La Mia Famiglia
by Jcani
Summary: "The world," ... "with just you, me... and our son" A man, desperate to make his wife happy, swears to accomplish her wish. (Contains Small Eva X Neil moments)
1. The Scardato Family

Here it is, my first multi-chaptered To The Moon Fanfic. I've taken some liberties concerning Neil and Eva's past considering how little we know at this point. I'll probably add an AU tag in the summary later down the line once we know more.

Special thanks to my beta reader RadioStarx7

* * *

><p>Chapter one: The Scardato Family<p>

"Arianna, _como stai_?" A man called out from the doorway of a large bedroom, speaking to a silhouette of a woman who sat on the bed, obscured lightly by a curtain, and stared out the window opposite of the entry way. The room was spacious with a renaissance-like design, the bed ensconced in an ornate bedpost with a frame overhead upon which thin veiled curtains hanged. A silver-gilded lamp located on a bed-side drawer provided some form of luminescence, aided mildly by the diminishing light that filtered through the tinted window panes held together by an elaborate golden frame.

The man was dressed in business attire, a well-ironed suit jacket over a white dress shirt tucked into a pair of paints that matched the jacket. A red tie adorned his collar and a blue pocket square jutted out slightly from his outer breast pocket . Both his glasses and his shoes were polished and gave pristine shines. His dusty brown hair, with a few stray strands of grey, was combed and gelled to side in a suave manner. His hardened eyes gazed almost fearfully at the woman's form.

"Arianna?" He called out again, this time stepping into the room and approaching the bed. His hand reached out for the curtain and moved it aside, revealing the woman he was trying to communicate with. She was turned away from him, staring out the window. Her legs were tucked beneath the blanket and one hand rested upon the other as they were placed on her lap. She had mostly straight dirty blonde hair that reached past her shoulder blades and curled at the ends. She was dressed in a light pink night gown with a rose and violet floral pattern.

"Arianna." He placed a hand on her shoulder which prompted her to turn around and look at him, revealing her freckled complexion, her small and slightly upturned nose, thinly arched eyebrows, and her twin nebulaeic combination of green and blue that surrounded the pupil of her eyes. "Hey, dinner's ready, I had the chef from that one restaurant you like come and make it for us."

Arianna gave him a gentle smile and leaned in towards him, resting her head on his chest. "Look, Nicholas, my hair grew back. Am I beautiful again?"

"Arianna…" Nicholas wrapped his arms around her and placed a delicate kiss on the top of her head. "You always were, _amore mio_."

"Nick, tell me, what does the outside look like?"

"Hm?" Nicholas raised an inquiring eyebrow.

"The windows are so dark, I just can't tell…"

Nicholas gently pulled himself away from her, walked around to the other side of the bed, and opened the window. The room was instantly bathed in a warm orange glow, matching the tinge of the sky as the sun started to descend below the vista. He moved aside and the corners of her mouth curled ever so slightly upward.

"It's beautiful," she spoke softly.

"Yeah."

Nicholas allowed her a brief moment to view the outside's beauty before closing the windows shut. "It's dangerous to keep them open for long."

"I bet our son could keep his windows open," Arianna replied bitterly as she turned away. Nicholas cringed upon hearing her retort but withheld a riposte. She raised her knees and hugged her legs closely to her chest. "I just want to see him again, before I-"

"Don't say it," Nicholas interjected, his back towards her. His eyes were downcast and his hands clenched into fists. "Nothing's going to happen to you, everything will be alright."

Arianna turned back to Nicholas, her eyes shimmering with moisture. "Nick, I can't go through it again. Please, just let me-"

"No!" Nicholas whirled around and wrapped his arms around Arianna in a tight embrace. His body convulsed lightly with every sob. "I love you… Don't just give up… please…"

Arianna placed her chin on Nicolas' shoulder and whispered into his ear. "_Egregio_, I love you too, more than anything in the world. But please, you have to know, that I'm not happy, I haven't been happy for a long time already."

Nicholas released her from his hug but continued to hold on to her shoulders as he looked her in the eyes. "Then tell me what it will take to make you happy Arianna. I'll do anything, anything you want."

Arianna shook her head. "It's not possible."

"I'll _make _it possible." He had involuntarily squeezed her shoulders which produced a whimper from her. He released her and lowered his head apologetically. "I'm sorry…"

He then got up from the bed and headed for the exit.

"I'd like to see the world." Arianna spoke up, stopping Nicholas before he left the room.

"Huh?" Nicholas, whose shoulders were slumped in dejection, turned his head back towards her.

"The world," Arianna repeated. "With just you, me… and our son."

Nicholas opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.

_He's not going to be easy to find_, he wanted to say. Instead, he merely nodded and smiled at his wife. He stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him. _I'll find him, Arianna, I promise_.

At the end of the hall was a young man with a buzz cut, dressed similarly to Nicholas. The man was slightly tanned and seemed to possess a permanent scowl, but bowed respectfully to Nicholas when he came near. "_Buona sera_, Mr. Scardato, how's the missus?"

"She's fine, I suppose," Nicholas answered, hardly giving the man a glance as he walked by him. The man then began to follow Nicholas.

"Boss, some of the boys been hearing things through the grapevine. The Bazzoli family has been-"

"Forget about it," Nicholas interrupted as he turned to make his way down a staircase, its steps decorated with a brilliant violet rug with golden trimmings. "I have something else for you to do, Anthony."

"F'get about it?" Anthony voiced out incredulously. "But boss-"

When they reached the end of the stairs and stood in the foyer where on the ceiling hanged a large crystalline chandelier, Nicholas suddenly turned on Anthony, interrupting him mid-sentence. Nicholas' eyes furrowed into a daggered glare and he seemed to loom over Anthony, who could only gaze fearfully back.

"S-sorry, boss. Whaddya need?"

Nicholas' expression turned back to normal and he glanced back in the direction of the room Arianna was in before addressing Anthony. "I… I need you to find my son."

"Y'mean-"

"Yeah."

"Boss, please don't take this as insubordination but, your kid ain't exactly no imbecile. He ain't gonna be easy to find."

"No," Nicholas solemnly agreed, "and I don't expect him to be. He more than likely changed his name and moved out of state."

"Changed his identity eh? Sounds like the kinda work this guy I know does, he-"

"I said name, not identity you idiot." Nicholas raised his hand as if he were about to slap Anthony with the back of his hand, causing Anthony to flinch. He instead lowered his hand and sighed. "I'm thinking he went down to the court district and changed his name."

"What, you mean _legally_?" Anthony could not contain his bafflement. "I don't really see the point in that."

"Of course you don't, _stunod_. It basically means we can't track him, but the feds still can."

"Well, what about that girl?"

"What girl?"

"_That _girl."

"Are you being stupid again?"

"Nonono, hear me out boss!" Anthony waved his hands in front of him defensively. "Your son was always hanging out with that one girl, yeah? The one with the dark skin? I bet she would know where he is, and she probably didn't change her name or nothin'!"

"Hmm," Nicholas mused, cupping his chin with the side of his index finger and his thumb, "that's actually quite ingenious. Good job Anthony, do you remember her name?"

Anthony rubbed the back of his head and grinned sheepishly. "Er ah… no. But I'm sure one of the boys might remember! She had one heck of an attitude."

"Okay then, ask around, see what you can find out."

"Now about the Bazzoli family-"

"Forgot about that Bazzoli family and go out there a find my son!" Nicholas' command had sent Anthony scrambling towards the exit, a large pair of double doors that led from the foyer into the main courtyard.

* * *

><p>"What to do, what to do, what to do…" Neil muttered to himself, leaning back in his desk chair, his fingers laced behind his head. Using his left foot, he slowly began to spin the chair and himself with it, the stark white ceiling speckled with grey dots above him melding away into a circular blur. This amused him for only a moment, so he stopped, choosing now to examine the things upon his desk.<p>

It was a clattered mish-mash of papers, pens, staples, and paperclips, all of which hid the surface of the coffee-stained desk. There were two mugs on top of his desk, one of which was filled with a hearty helping of his favorite brew, and the other acting as a container for pencils. Absent-mindedly, he plucked a pencil out of the mug and felt the point with his index finger. Satisfied with its sharpness, he looked up, and with an expert flick, embedded the point of the pencil into the ceiling above.

"Huh, that was almost too easy. Now I'm bored again."

He went back to perusing the surface of his desk for a distraction when suddenly he felt a sensation like a bullet penetrating the right side of his chest. _Goddammit, not now, not here. _

With his left hand clenched over the distressed area his right hand opened one of his desk drawers and began to rummage through its contents as his eyes scanned for anybody nearby. His hand enclosed around the object he was looking for and he pulled it out, revealing it to be a translucent orange pill container. With a practiced twist, he pulled off the cap and without regard to the dosage; he tossed his head back and swallowed an ambiguous amount of tablets.

It took a minute for him to compose himself, afterwards he hastily stowed the container back in the drawer.

_Crap. It was never that intense before. _

"Dr. Watts?"

Neil shot a glance towards the entrance to his office, finding a young woman with disheveled red hair tied into a pair of twin-tails. A large pair of spectacles adorned her face and she was dressed in the Sigmund Corp. signature white lab coat. She clutched a clipboard close to her chest as she and Neil stared at each other awkwardly.

"Do not tell anyone what you saw, _especially _Doctor Rosalene, capisce?" Neil commanded, causing the redhead to nod timidly.

Neil let out a sigh, relieved that it was Emily of all people that saw his moment of duress. She was an intern handpicked by Eva from a nearby university, and though she was quite brilliant, she was also rather shy and easily pushed around. Oftentimes, Eva would have to rescue Emily from whatever menial task Neil had arbitrarily assigned her. Had it been someone else who had seen Neil's distress, such as Alistair, that smelly old buffoon, no doubt word will circulate around the corporation within a days' time.

"Um, Dr. Watts, Dr. Rosalene just wanted me to give you this…" Emily handed Neil a sheet of paper from her clipboard before skittering away hurriedly, most likely to avoid falling victim to another one of Neil's unreasonable assignments. Neil hardly glanced at the sheet given to him before tossing it on top of the already large mound of paper that seemed to bend his desk slightly in the center. _Please don't tell Eva. _

Emily had made her way back to Eva who was in her office, one uniform with Neil's albeit with a cleaner, graphite-free ceiling. Also unlike Neil's, Eva's desk was much more organized, her papers, folders, and files, stacked and lined up neatly in a mesh office desk organizer on the left side of her desk. Eva herself, who sat behind her desk, her right leg crossed over her left leg, was preoccupied with her tablet, her fingers gliding over the touchscreen with deft strokes.

Emily waited patiently and stood at the doorway for a solid minute before Eva looked up and took notice of her. "Hm? Emily? How long have you been standing there?"

"Not long at all Dr. Rosalene," Emily assured Eva, giving her senior a nervous laugh and a dismissive wave.

Eva offered Emily a gentle smile in return. "It doesn't hurt to assert yourself every now and again, Emily."

"Yes, Dr. Rosalene."

"Your reticence is why Neil picks on you."

"… Yes, Dr. Rosalene."

"So how goes your graduate work?"

Emily seemed to light up at the chance of discussing her work. "It's going well, Dr. Rosalene. I'm almost finished with my doctoral dissertation and I can realistically see myself defending my thesis by the end of the year, but… well…"

"Yes?" Eva asked, raising an eyebrow.

It seemed to take every ounce of courage within Emily to voice out her request. "Ah… it's just that, um, I really need some field experience, you know… my thesis being about memory reconfiguration…"

"You'd like to jump into the memories of a patient and see how it's done," Eva concluded, electing a furious nod from Emily. "I suppose you could tag along with me and Neil on our next commission-"

"Thank you Dr. Rosalene!" Emily blurted out, interrupting Eva. "Thank you so much! Thank you, thank you!" Emily began to bow incessantly, invoking a chuckle from Eva.

"It's really no trouble. And if Neil doesn't like it, well that doesn't really matter does it? How about we celebrate with some banana bread I made?"

Eva bent down and reached for something under her desk. She then sat back up and placed the Tupperware she retrieved onto her desk and removed the lid, revealing her confectionary creation. The joy Emily had experienced earlier had nearly diminished; she once ate Eva's carrot cake and the prospect of eating something else Eva had baked was very foreboding, though she tried her best to maintain a straight face. This grew more challenging when Eva handed Emily a fork and presented the Tupperware filled with bread at her.

"Go on, have as much as you like. I offered some to the others but they all said they were full from lunch."

"Heh heh, o-oh b-boy," Emily stammered, struggling to maintain her smile. "There's just so much, maybe we could share with Neil."

"Neil doesn't get any," Eva scowled, somewhat pouty. "He said my carrot cake sucks."

Emily's eyes widened at the news. "Really? He's the only one I've ever seen finish…"

Eva raised a quizzical eyebrow. "What do you mean he's the only one who ever-"

Emily realized her mistake and to avoid answering, snatched the fork from Eva's hand, stabbed it into the bread, and placed a sizeable portion into her mouth.

"Mmf. Dis sduff ish predy gud," Emily managed to say as she held back her tears of despair.

"It's a new recipe!" Eva proclaimed happily as she stood up, still holding out the bread for Emily. "How is it compared to the cake you ate last time?"

_It's worse than before! _Emily could only scream within the confines of her mind.

"Mmm, better than ever!" Emily decreed, even after managing to chew and swallow what she was sure was an unholy baked confectionary from hell.

Eva set the Tupperware on top of her desk. "Well, feel free to help yourself to as much as you want. I'm gonna go talk to the boss real quick."

Eva walked out of her office, leaving Emily to sigh in relief. Emily's reprieve, however, was short-lived, as she realized that Eva would probably expect a bit more of the banana bread gone. Without the heat of the moment, not to mention realizing just how awful Eva's new recipe is, Emily just literally couldn't stomach having to eat another bite.

"Time to say our prayers, she made carrot cake." Emily turned around to see Neil standing in the doorway, smirking mischievously at Emily. "So, how was it?"

"Not cake… banana bread," Emily corrected him as she tried to stifle a sob. "… It was horrible."

Neil approached her and took the fork from Emily before stabbing a small portion of Eva's bread and placing it into his mouth. He grimaced and a slight choking sound could be heard from him as he and Emily exchanged horrified glances.

"I can't believe it, it's worse than her cake."

"She said it's a new recipe."

"Lord, have mercy on us all."

Despite his objections, Neil continued to shovel more and more of Eva's banana bread into his mouth, practically gagging every time he swallowed.

"Um, Dr. Watts, why are you still eating it?"

Neil placed the fork down and rubbed his lips clean of crumbs with the back of his hand. "I heard Eva tell you to help yourself. Obviously she expects a bit more to be gone so here I am. Consider it thanks for not telling Eva about… well… you know."

Emily nodded gratefully and Neil left Eva's office. Emily looked into the container and was surprised to find that Neil had eaten more than half of it, much more than what would have been reasonable to eat.

_What a complicated relationship, _Emily mused.

* * *

><p><em>Knock, knock, knock. <em>"Arianna? Honey? Are you there? You didn't show up at the dinner table so I just thought I'd bring it up to you." Nicholas waited patiently outside the bedroom door, standing beside a trolley upon which a lavish spread was placed. No answer came from within and he reached for the door knob.

"Arianna, I'm coming in."

Nicholas twisted the door knob and slowly pushed the door open, peering curiously through the space between the door and the fram. When the opening was wide enough for him to step through, he did so, and approached the bed prudently, treating Arianna as if she were a gazelle ready to take off. The curtains were drawn again and her silhouette showed that she was lying down, her hands crossed over her abdomen as if she was Sleeping Beauty. Sensing something wrong, Nicholas hastily pulled back the curtains and let out a horrified gasp.

Her skin had taken a ghastly pale hue and her breathing, if one could even call it that, was shallow. Nicholas instinctively placed a palm against her cheek, feeling her skin to be balmy and cold.

"Arianna, no… Arianna? Arianna!"

Nicholas' face was buried in his hands as he sat on a chair by Arianna's bedside. The room was filled with various machines to which Arianna was connected to by a variety of color-coded wires. The barely audible beeps of the heart rate monitor threatened to drive Nicholas mad as he began to tug on his hair and disheveled his well-groomed appearance.

"Um, Mr. Scardato?"

Nicholas slowly raised his head out from his hands and glanced to his right where a man with a stethoscope around his neck stood. The man fidgeted slightly and hopped nervously from foot to foot.

"Well?" Nicholas asked, his eyes watering as he looked up at the doctor with pleading eyes.

"It is as I expected two years ago," the doctor began, "The cancer has come back. She shouldn't have ended her treatment so prematurely."

"She said it made her sick, that it made her feel like she was dying anyways…" Nicholas than stood up, faced the doctor, and placed his hands on the doctor's forearms, holding him in place. "_Per favore, dottore_. Anything, is there _anything _you can do? I don't care how much it costs, she is everything to me!" Nicholas was now in tears and he fell to his knees, his forehead resting upon the doctor's feet as he continued to plead. "Anything… anything…"

The doctor could only look down sorrowfully at the man who was practically kissing his feet. "We could continue treatment while she's on life support, but you have to understand Mr. Scardato, that even with today's medical technology, something like this is still incredibly dependent on the patient's will to live. I'm sorry to say, but your wife seems to have lost it. Anything we do now will only make her passing harder."

Nicholas stood back up and approached Arianna's bedside, stroking her cheek with the back of his finger. "That can't be true. Arianna, I promised you… I was going to make you happy, bring our son back… see the world... Didn't you believe me? Was I not sincere?"

"Mr. Scardato, I don't mean to pry, but there is a way you can still fulfill her wishes, that is as long as you're absolutely sure as to what they are."

Nicholas turned to the doctor. "What are you talking about?"

"Have you heard of a company called Sigmund Corporation?"

* * *

><p>Neil stood in front of the mirror in his bathroom, having disrobed his coat and his shirt both of which now lay on the floor near his feet, his torso completely exposed. He examined his somewhat scrawny body briefly before his eyes were drawn to the circular scar on the right side of his chest near his shoulder, approximately the circumference of an acorn. He brought his left hand slowly towards the scar before he gingerly placed his index finger upon it and gently traced the edge of the scarred tissue, forming a circle. He then looked down at the sink where a bottle of aspirin was placed. He picked up the bottle and looked at it contemptuously, thinking back to the earlier events of the day, right after he left work.<p>

"_Doc, I'm telling you, it's starting to hurt, a lot." Neil sat upon an examination table/bed thingy… Neil had no idea what it was really called but it is what one would sit on should one come in for a typical doctor's appointment. It had beige-rubber upholstery and the paper sheet covering it was slightly crinkled due to Neil sitting on top of it. _

_ The doctor Neil spoke to was an African-American man with short curly hair and honey-ambered skin. He was dressed in a doctor's coat with a blue dress shirt beneath adorned with a red and white horizontally striped tie. He held onto a clipboard with one hand and held up a sheet of paper clipped to it with the other as he looked at another beneath it, his lips pursed disdainfully. _

_ "I'm sorry, Mr. Watts, but I can no longer justify giving you any more painkillers. There's absolutely no physical explanation as to why you're in pain."_

_ The doctor's explanation only elicited an aggravated growl from Neil. "What? So you think I'm faking it just to get more pills?" _

_ "I'm not saying anything of the sort," The doctor replied. "Although I fear addiction would be another consequence should I continue to prescribe you Demerol." _

_ Neil pushed himself off the exam table huffily. "Whatever, I'll just buy some aspirin…" _

_ "Neil, wait." The doctor removed something from his clipboard and handed it to Neil, the second thing Neil had received from a clipboard that day, albeit he was more inclined to see what he had been given this time. It was a plain business card that read "Dr. Singh" with a business and fax number beneath. "He's a psychiatrist, a good one. He-"_

_ "So you think I'm imagining the pain?" Neil interrupted, tossing the card into a nearby trash bin. The doctor walked over to the trash bin, bent down, and retrieved the card before offering it to Neil once more. _

_ "Just because your mind is making you feel pain doesn't necessarily mean you're imagining it. The pain is real, as proof; the pain killers tend to tide you over. But painkillers aren't meant to be taken forever, they are used until the source of the pain is gone. Dr. Neil, you yourself make a living going into the memories of patients, don't you? I'm sure there are a few cases in which you've witnessed the powers of the mind affecting the body, have you not?" _

_ Neil resentfully took the business card from the doctor's hand and tucked it into his breast pocket before walking out, failing to provide a response. _

Neil bent down and retrieved his lab coat. He buried a hand into the pocket and pulled out the pill container he had opened earlier that day to deal with his episode. During his attack, he had unwittingly tossed the entirety of its contents (which wasn't much considering Neil didn't seem to be overdosed) into his gullet, thereby leaving him with no more pain medication.

_Nothing good anyways_, Neil thought to himself as he glared at the bottle of Bayer aspirin he purchased after his trip to the doctor. He tossed the empty prescription bottle over his should before picking up his plain white shirt and putting it on.

"Empty. I can probably ascertain you used them up after you little 'attack' earlier today?"

"What?!" Neil shouted in panic as he reeled to find the source of the voice, finding it to be Eva who held the empty pill bottle with a disapproving curl in her lips. "Dammit, Eva! I never should have given you keys…"

"Emily told me about your episode earlier today," Eva explained, tossing the container aside.

Neil grunted and turned away from Eva and continued with his bathroom routine, reaching for an incredibly worn toothbrush. Eva rolled her eyes and intercepted the toothbrush before pitching it into the trash bin. She then opened the medicine cabinet, which happened to be what the mirror Neil was looking into was mounted on so he had to duck, retrieved a new toothbrush still in its packaging, and handed it to Neil.

"You should replace your toothbrush when its bristles are frayed."

"Yes, _mom_." Neil unpackaged the toothbrush, ran it under the tap, and began to apply some toothpaste to it. "Just so you know, she wasn't the one that ate your banana bread today."

"I know," Eva said, her voice quivering as if she was holding back an inferno within her chest. "She cracked when I insisted she take the rest home with her."

"Sounds like you're the one about to crack," Neil remarked with a sneer.

Eva let out a drawn-out sigh before replying. "I would just appreciate it if people would just tell me what's wrong. Like you, as an example, I knew you were taking painkillers but I never thought it was this bad!"

"It was nothing, and you would have turned it into something, like you're doing now!" Neil then stuffed the head of his toothbrush into his mouth, bringing the conversation to an abrupt end.

Eva crossed her arms and grumbled at him before heading out of his bathroom. She paused momentarily at the exit then turned back to Neil. "Just a heads up, the next time we're on assignment, whenever it is, Emily will be joining us."

"Hrmf?!" Neil spat out the foam and rinsed his mouth before he turned and confronted Eva, wiping his mouth with his arm. "Seriously? I _hate_ showing newbies the ropes. Isn't she just an intern anyways? No way the boss would approve."

"He already did," Eva replied with a smirk. "Have a little heart Neil; she needs it for her dissertation."

"Tch." Neil clicked his tongue disdainfully before placing his toothbrush back into his mouth. "Rike ah werna hep shum widdo tato tayo."

Eva rolled her eyes. "Get over it, this isn't grade school."

Neil grunted in reply, his mouth once more filled with foam. Eva then left the bathroom and into the living room of Neil's apartment. She sat on the couch and picked up the TV remote controller that was on the coffee table in front of her, one that had seen appropriate use as evidenced by the brown coffee rings that bespattered the surface. She pressed the circular red button that switched on Neil's forty-eight inch plasma TV, his second most prized possession, outranked only by his coffee maker.

**"Here I am with-"**

** "-der the sea-"**

** "Lucky there's a fam-"**

Eva's thumb constantly mashed down on the channel+ button in an effort to find something mildly interesting to watch.

**"-Zzoli has been relea-"**

** "Welcome ba-"**

"Wait a second, was that…?" Eva hit the channel- button once and found herself in a news channel. At this point, Neil had emerged from the bathroom.

"Anything good on?"

"Neil!" Eva hastily and imploringly pointed towards the TV. Neil glanced at the television amusedly at first, wondering what could have Eva in near hysterics. He then took in a sharp intake of breath as he saw what Eva was pointing at.

People have gathered around the entrance of a state penitentiary facility, many of them with microphones and cameras, others with a small notepad and a writing utensil. The reporter for this particular news channel had managed to force her way to the front and stuck her microphone at the face of the man emerging from the prison entrance.

**"Mr. Bazzoli, how do you respond to allegations that you will 'make the Scardato family pay' upon your release?" **

The man being asked the question had a square shaped face upon which his skin stretched around like wrinkled leather. His hair was white and wispy and he bore a grim expression. He looked at the reporter silently for just a moment before answering.

**"The… Scardato family…" **he began in a thick Italian accident, **"I'll be demanding an apology very soon." **

_Pshew_. Neil had picked up the remote and turned off the TV. Although he was looking at the now black screen of his plasma, he still continued to peer into it like a deer looking over it shoulders at the sound of a potential predator.

"Neil, are you alright?"

"What? Yeah, no, I mean, dammit," Neil sat down beside Eva and ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm fine. It's not like it's my problem anyways."

It was the worse display of false confidence she had ever seen from Neil, but Eva was not about to point it out. "I couldn't see anything earlier so I'm not too sure how he got out."

"Pardon from the governor, 'new evidence'," Neil began to list off, "either way, someone got paid _a lot _of money."

"Or threatened," Eva added, her eyes widening in fear. "Neil, you better-"

"I better what?" Neil snapped. "Like I said, it's not my problem." Neil got off the couch and headed towards the kitchen. "You want some coffee? I got decaf."

"Okay." Eva watched as Neil went into the kitchen and took out a bag of coffee grounds from an overhead pantry. She noticed a tremble in his hands as he handled the scoop and as he was pouring it into the machine, he fumbled it, peppering the counter top with grounded coffee.

"Dammit…"

"Neil?"

"Goddammit!" Neil slammed the side of his fists into the counter.

"Neil!" Eva got off the couch and rushed towards the kitchen.

* * *

><p>And there you guys have it! Please leave a review, good or bad, so I know how I'm doing! Thanks!<p> 


	2. Prelude to a Visit

Chapter 2 finally here. It's been like, two months and a week? Sorry for making you guys wait so long for a chapter that I have to admit isn't all that great or exciting :/ College has been kicking me in the butt, but I kinda got that all settled now, so hopefully I can begin weekly updates!

In this chapter, I introduce some characters from the To the Moon Christmas Special episode/game, I suggest you guys play it! It's free!

Beta Read by RadioStarx7

* * *

><p>Chapter 2: Prelude to a Visit<p>

"Neil…" Eva muttered to herself as she examined the face of the man whose head now used her lap as a pillow. She sat on the floor of the kitchen where Neil lay, the back of his left forearm draped across his eyes. The floor and the counter top were strewn with glass, all pieces from the coffee carafe Neil had smashed in an uncharacteristic fit of rage. By the time Eva had arrived at the kitchen, Neil was curled in fetal position, his hand clenched over his right shoulder as he moaned in agony.

Only one man could illicit such a frenzied reaction from Neil.

Eva eyed Neil's right shoulder and daintily placed her fingers on it. She could feel the scar through his shirt and she began to trace the outline, recalling the anguished cries of the past. Her hand was then stayed when Neil had placed his on top of hers, pressing her palm against his scar.

"Does it still hurt, Neil?" Eva asked.

Neil lightly curled his hand around hers and removed his forearm from across his eyes. "It's okay now."

With Neil grasping Eva's hand, Eva began to think back to one of their previous patients, Johnny, and when Neil reached out for her hand. She slapped it away, thinking it was just Neil being Neil, making some display of sarcastic sentimentality.

_But what if he was being genuine? _

Neil's thumb had started to caress the back of her hand in a circular motion, and she allowed the contact, though she shyly looked away, pretending to lament the loss of the smashed carafe by examining the broken shards of glass.

"You got soft hands," Neil spoke softly.

"… Thank you."

"They're a lot like my mom's."

"Yeah, _that's _what a woman wants to hear." Eva was tempted to karate chop Neil's forehead.

"I wonder how she's doing."

"Don't you ever call?" The moment Eva asked, she realized the answer for herself. It wasn't that easy in Neil's case.

Neil sat up, freeing Eva's lap, and crossed his legs. "I've been meaning to, but…"

"I know," Eva interrupted him. She stood up and began to examine the shards of glass with a more critical eye. "You're going to have to clean this up."

Neil also surveyed the damage, letting out a depressed groan as he did so. "Maaaaan, I'm not gonna be drinking coffee any time soon..."

* * *

><p>"Sigmund… Corporation?" Nicholas repeated the doctor's words. He had heard the name somewhere, sometime several years ago. Some big deal, some sort of scientific breakthrough, but who cares?<p>

"What does that have to do with my wife's wish?"

"They can fulfill wishes by modifying a patient's memories. However, since these memories will soon begin conflicting with the patient's real memories, they only ever perform such an operation on the dying," the doctor explained.

Nicholas gazed at the doctor scornfully. "Making fake memories? Sounds like the devil's work."

"You're not alone in your sentiment," the doctor stated a-matter-of-factly, "I was merely presenting you with an option."

"An option, huh?" Nicholas' approach was sudden and by the time the doctor could even comprehend it, his collar has been grabbed and jabbed against his throat was the cold, metallic end of a glock's muzzle. The handgun had a chrome finish and carbon fiber grips. The slide had an ornate rose and thorn design etched into the chrome, though the beauty of the weapon had been lost on the doctor who instead was more worried about what may come out of it and into him. "How about you doing your damn job and getting my wife better?! What about that option, huh?!"

"Mr. Scardato, _please_, I've done everything I can!"

Nicholas' response was simply a piercing glare. His finger slowly began to pull the trigger and the doctor could only stand still, his body shivering as he paradoxically began to sweat until he was frozen in a puddle of fear.

_Knock knock. _Just when it seemed Nicholas was about to breach the point of no return, the sound of the door being rapped had caused the doctor to flinch and squeal, though it stayed Nicholas's finger as he turned to see who it was.

It was Anthony, who waited at the door, bowing his head and closing his eyes respectfully for Arianna.

"Tch." Nicholas pushed the doctor away from him contemptuously and approached the doorway. Anthony took a step back and allowed some space between himself and Nicholas. "What, Anthony?"

"Hey boss, sorry to hear about your missus, we-"

"Just get on with it," Nicholas interjected, pinching the bridge of his nose. The last thing he wanted to hear was some half-assed condolences.

"Er, ah, right, uh, earlier in the day, you told me to go find your son, yeah boss?" Anthony stammered.

Nicholas chose not to respond this time, merely waiting for Anthony to make his point.

"Well, after askin' the boys if they remember that girl's name, which was Eva, by the way, uh, I found her house, met with her parents, decent couple o' folks, they fed me something called-" A sudden scowl from Nicholas ceased Anthony's pointless ramble. "Ahaha, sorry boss, anyways, I found out where she works, and apparently she works with someone who seems a lot like your son, calls himself Neil Watts."

_So he took his grandfather's first name, and his grandmother's last, huh? _"Yeah, that sounds like him." Nicholas turned his back to Anthony, approached Arianna's bedside, and cupped her hand in his. "Good job, Anthony. You're done for the day."

Anthony, despite the mood, couldn't help but smile; praise from Nicholas was rare to hear. "I could go and track him down, get him to come home?"

Nicholas shook his head, staring forlornly at Arianna's pale face. "There's no point anymore…"

"Okay, see you tomorrow then, boss." Anthony quietly stepped out.

The doctor attending to Arianna let out a relieved sigh, his life being spared by the timely arrival of one of Nicholas' cronies. With Nicholas once again preoccupied with Arianna, he decided it would be best to step out for just a moment, and allow him some time to grieve.

"_Dottore_," Nicholas called out, just as the doctor reached the entryway. The doctor froze in his spot and barely managed to voice out his words as he looked to Nicholas horrifically.

"Y-yes, Mr. Scardato?"

Nicholas remained silent for a moment, staring down contemplatively at Arianna's face. He began to stroke her cheek with his knuckle, brushing a stray hair aside as he did so, before he leaned in and lightly placed his lips on hers. He then turned to the doctor, a single tear from the corner of his left eye having begun its descent down the side of cheek.

"Tell me more about Sigmund Corporation."

* * *

><p>"…" Neil could only let out a grumble as he stared dismally at the contents of his Styrofoam cup. It was coffee, yes, but he would much prefer to bring his own rather than have some from the employee lounge. "How could we make so much money yet not have enough for a decent coffee machine that doesn't spew out this watered down crap?"<p>

"Hey, this coffee machine's been giving me energy since before you even came here, sonny!" A balding old man stepped in front of the coffee machine, pushed Neil aside and placed a Styrofoam cup beneath the spout, from which a generous amount of black liquid spurted out and into the cup at the press of a button.

"Well, that would explain why it's such crap, it's old like you, McMillan," Neil snidely remarked as he lightly smacked Willis' shoulder. Doctor McMillan took a sip from his cup and let out a satisfied "ah", letting Neil's comment roll off his back.

"You can say whatever you like boy, but we ain't getting rid of this coffee maker, ya hear?" McMillan patted Neil's back in turn and left the lounge.

"Beat this machine with a bat, that's how I'd like to get rid of it…" Neil grumbled. He took a hesitant sip before making a face, dumping the rest of it into the sink, and tossing the cup into the disposal bin. "God, that's horrible…"

"Doctor Watts?"

The familiar meek voice prompted Neil to look to his left, where a twin-tailed bespectacled redhead stood.

"Doctor Watts, I have a-"

She was silenced when Neil pointed an over-dramatic finger at her face. "You! You don't get to speak with me!"

"W-wha-"

"Silence! Not a word! You told Eva what happened!"

"Doctor Watts, I-"

"As punishment, you will run ten laps around the building!"

"But-"

"Ten laps! Now!"

"Y-yes!"

Emily took off and out of the employee lounge like a private following the drill sergeant's orders. Neil then pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose triumphantly as he snickered. On her way out she brushed shoulders with a short-haired blonde woman who just stepped into the room.

"S-sorry Doctor Winters!" Emily shouted as she ran down the hallway.

"What the…" Roxanne looked over her shoulder, merely capturing the sight of a red blur within the periphery of her vision. She then turned her attention forward and glanced peculiarly at Neil. "Was that Emily? You're not making her do something unreasonable again are you?"

Neil turned his side towards her, crossed his arms, and strategically used the light to reflect off his glasses to shield his eyes dramatically. "It is a senpai's job to punish his juniors!"

Roxanne curled her lip contemptuously. "This isn't Japan, and you're no senpai. What're you punishing her for anyways?"

"For having a big mouth, that's what."

"No one's mouth is as big as yours."

"Would you like to join Emily?"

Roxanne crossed her arms and stared Neil down defiantly. "You can't make me do anything."

A malicious grin appeared on Neil's face. "Oh? I seem to recall recording you doing a certain _something _last week, if this video were to be released to everyone in the office…"

"Y-you're bluffing!" Roxanne stammered. "I wasn't doing anything!"

"That was quite a generous amount of shaving cream you used," Neil began, catching Roxanne's breath. "To think that Doctor Winters had such hairy-"

"I HATE YOU NEIL!" Roxanne yelled out as she, like Emily, stormed out of the lounge. "Emily, wait up!"

A man with grey hair tied into a braided ponytail coming into the room had to step to the side to avoid Roxanne. He then looked to Neil questioningly. "Being a little terror again, Neil?"

"I haven't the slightest clue what you're on about, Robert." Neil shrugged, approached the refrigerator, and began to rummage through its contents. "You don't think Eddie would mind if I steal his sandwich?"

"Stop taking other people's food, Neil."

"But there's people starving in Africa-"

"That's what you say to a kid when you want them to eat their vegetables."

"Oh, right." Despite Doctor Lin's objections, Neil reached into the refrigerator, pulled out Eddie's sandwich, unwrapped it, then frowned, wrapping it back up and placing it back in. "Speaking of vegetables, looks like Eddie's going through a vegetarian phase… again. I'm heading out for lunch, catch ya later, Linny."

Robert watched Neil with a frown as he walked out of the lounge, his fingers laced behind his head casually. _Why hasn't he been fired yet? _

Neil made his way to the building's entrance, just in time to see Emily and Roxanne huffing and puffing their way past him. "Hey girls! How many laps did you finish?"

"Wah… wah… wah… one…" Emily managed to voice out before collapsing onto the pavement.

Roxanne stopped when Emily collapsed and she doubled over, propping herself up by placing her hands on her knees. "Neil… The building is huge… please…"

"Weeeell," Neil cupped his chin in mock contemplation, "I suppose if the both of you acknowledge my seniority, supreme intellect, as well as my dashing good looks, I might just-"

"You're senior to only _one _of them, you're as dumb as rock, and you have a face only a mother could love." The retort had come from Eva who emerged from the entrance. "What's going on? Why're you lying down on the ground, Emily?"

Emily's chest took in great breaths as she tried voice out an answer. "I'm… dying… gah…"

"Neil… made us run." Roxanne pointed an accusatory finger at Neil. "Kick… his… ass…"

Eva raised an eyebrow at Roxanne. "Emily I understand, but I don't get how he got you to do what he wants too."

"That's… that's…" Unable to keep herself up any longer, Roxanne fell alongside Emily. A grumble in Neil's stomach told him it was time to get moving and he stepped over the exhausted women.

"Neil, where're you going?" Eva impatiently called out to him. "Didn't Emily tell you, we got a job and there's going to be a briefing."

"It's my lunch break, and all Eddy's got is a vegetarian sandwich. I'm going out to eat; the briefing can wait for later, can't it?" Neil begged.

"Hrmm…" Eva grumbled and crossed her arms. "Okay, fine. I while I'm out here I'll go with you."

"Yeah, yeah," Neil waved dismissively. "The more the merrier I guess."

"Hear that girls?" Eva looked down on the fallen women. "Lunch is on Neil today."

Upon hearing this, Roxanne and Emily seemed to have magically recovered and both were up with huge grins on their faces. It was payback time.

"Wait, what? I never said anything like that!" Neil's dissenting cries went ignored as Eva, Emily, and Roxanne began to make their way away from the Sigmund Corp. building.

"I heard there's a new sandwich shop just down the street."

"Yeah! Lisa told me about it!"

"Oi! You girls hearing me?! If I'm paying, _I _get to choose where we eat!"

A deathly silence permeated within the confines of the Scardato banquet hall. Nicholas Scardato sat at the head of the table, a beautiful oaken construct stained with a radiant brown finish, whilst the other six people, three on each side, sat perpendicular to him. Nicholas' glower seemed to freeze everyone present, so they sat up rigidly and silently.

* * *

><p>"Durante Bazzoli…" Nicholas voiced out the name venomously. "Durante Bazzoli… Because of him, because of him…" Nicholas slammed the bottom side of his fist into the table, causing the others sitting at the table to jump up slightly in surprise. "How the hell did he get out?! Who did the Bazzoli family pay off?!"<p>

No response came from the other men sitting at the table.

"Am I talkin' to a bunch o' _idioti_? Someone say something!"

The men at the table exchanged pleading glances with each other and yet Nicholas' question still went unanswered. Exasperated, Nicholas removed his glasses, placed them on the table, leaned back in his chair and massaged his brow. When he put his glasses back on, he noticed the six men all looking at him expectantly. Nicholas turned his attention to the one immediately to his left.

"Mikey, that… 'friend of yours', is he still available for some 'work'?"

Mikey, a man whose head was covered in a fedora, shook his head. "Sorry, Don. He's outta the game. Wants to start a family now, he does, yeah."

"Hmm…" Nicholas drummed his fingers in a rhythmic pattern on top of the table. "Do we have anyone else that's not on the commission list?"

"I know what you're thinking, Nicholas, but there's no point in acting so soon," the man to Nicholas' right spoke up. His white hair combed over the bald patch at the top of his head. His mustache was dark grey and masked his upper lip with its bushiness. His face was lined with wrinkles, like an old leather couch. He dressed in a silver-grey suit, a double breasted jacket covering a well-starched dress shirt adorned with a black tie. "The police are likely keeping an eye on him, so he won't be doing anything for a while, but we can't do anything in return, either."

Nicholas rolled his tongue in his cheek disdainfully. He hated being told he was wrong, but there was a reason this man was his _Consiglieri_, and his father's before.

"Yes, you're right, Cassius." Nicholas ran his fingers through his hair and let out a sigh. "But now, it's like a game of chicken. Make a move too soon and the cops will get you. Make a move too late…"

"You get whacked," someone at the table completed for Nicholas, drawing about stern glances from everyone else present.

Nicholas merely nodded. "That's right." His expression turned blank and he stood up from his seat. "I'll spend what time I might have left with my wife. Cassius, you handle things here." Without waiting for a response, Nicholas then stood up and went for the exit. After pushing aside the large double doors, he looked over his shoulder to find Cassius had followed him out of the banquet hall and into the foyer.

"Nicholas, there are still things we must discuss in there."

"Which is why I left you in charge, Cassius," Nicholas replied, not even bothering to face Cassius as he began to climb the stairs.

Cassius gritted his teeth angrily. "Nicholas! _Cosa Nostra _comes first!"

Nicholas paused his ascent, his hand tightly squeezing the wooden railing that ran up the length of the stairs. "Cassius… just who the hell do you think you're yelling at?"

Nicholas' body began to tremble, and Cassius felt he had to take a step back. "I misspoke _Don_. _Per favore mi pardoni_."

"Hmph." Nicholas proceeded up the stairs, leaving Cassius to shake his head in disappointment once his back was turned.

* * *

><p>"What kinda hipster excuse of a sandwich shop is this place?" Neil bemoaned as he waited in a line, Emily and Roxanne ahead of him with Eva behind him. Neil's lamentation drew about hateful glances from the customers around them, to which Neil responded with a lone middle finger.<p>

Eva promptly wrapped her hand around his finger and bent it back.

"Owowowow! Eva, what the hell?" Neil had managed to wrestle his finger out of Eva's grasp and shot her a glare.

"Shut up, Neil. You're going to get us in trouble."

"Pfft. Trouble, like I'm afraid of some college kids."

"Neil, you're being a pain," Roxanne told him when she began to massage her temple with her finger. "Oh hey, the line's moving up."

Roxanne shoved Emily playfully, who was standing in front of her, towards the counter, and the two took their orders simultaneously. As Neil shifted impatiently from foot to foot, a sharp twinge tweaked his right shoulder, and he momentarily flinched, harshly inhaling as he did so. He avoided trying to massage the area, though his change in demeanor did not escape Eva's notice.

"It's hurting again, isn't it?"

"I'm fine…" Neil grumbled as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. _Damn, it hurts…_

Eva, as if reading Neil's mind, placed a hand on his shoulder, and lightly squeezed. Her thumb massaged the back of his shoulder in a rolling pattern as her fingers kneaded the front. Though unpracticed and a little rough, the sensation alleviated the pain slightly and Neil nearly sunk back into her like a blob of gelatin.

"Thanks, Eva."

"You should really see that psychiatrist."

"…Maybe."

Emily and Roxanne had finished ordering, and Neil's jaw dropped at the sight of the amount of food Roxanne carried away from the counter.

"What the hell?! You trying to ruin me?!"

Roxanne stuck her tongue out at Neil and went to find an empty table. Eva pushed Neil forward and, like Roxanne and Emily did earlier, took their place at the counter simultaneously.

"Hello!" A peppy young lady behind the cash register greeted them. "Those two women ahead of you said you were going to pay for them, is that right sir?"

"And for me too," Eva chimed in, bringing about a resentful grunt from Neil.

"See anything here that you like?" The lady indicated towards the inside of the counter, which was a see-through glass-paned lightly refrigerated display containing wrapped sandwiches of assorted size, shapes, and contents. "Or I could have the kitchen staff make you something specific?"

"I want that one," Eva pointed to a triangular sandwich wrapped in a plastic that was labeled with a sticker reading "shredded barbecue chicken". Neil perused the contents of the counter, but when nothing satisfactory could be found he turned his attention to the cashier.

"I just want two slices of bread with as much _prosciutto _as I can demand in between."

"Um…" The cashier tilted her head in confusion.

"He means ham," Eva clarified.

"Hm? Of course I mean ham. How could that have been misconstrued?"

"Um… You said something like, 'pro-shoot-oh?'" The cashier enunciated. Neil stared at the cashier unblinkingly before responding.

"Sorry, yes, ham. And some bacon too, if you can."

The cashier then placed Eva's desired sandwich onto the counter before stepping away from the register to go into the kitchen.

"The pain is making you go loopy," Eva whispered at Neil. "You can't even tell when you're speaking Italian."

Neil dug a pinky into his ear, as if he were hearing an annoying ringing noise. "It's nothing like that. Tony the butcher would always flip a lid whenever someone said 'ham' instead of '_prosciutto_' so I got used to it, that's all."

"What about the non-Italian customers that step into his butcher shop?"

"Hm? Tony didn't have a butcher shop."

As the reasoning behind Tony's name began to dawn on Eva, the cashier returned holding a tray upon which lay exactly what Neil wanted on top a paper sheet, two slices of bread with a large heap of meat in the center. The sandwich had been sliced in half, forming two triangular servings. The cashier then placed Eva's sandwich next to Neil's on the tray and pressed a few buttons on the register.

"Okay dokey, so you're running total is sixty-seven, fifty!"

A vein began to bulge from Neil's temple as he pulled out his wallet and leafed through his bills, pulling out four twenty's.

"Keep the change," Neil uttered as he detected the cashier slowly nudging the tip jar his way. He then picked up the tray, and he and Eva made their way to the table at which Emily and Roxanne sat next to each other.

"That's a lot of pig," Roxanne remarked as she took notice of Neil's sandwich when Neil and Eva took the seats across from her and Emily.

"That's a lot of sandwiches," Neil countered, referring to the large pile of wrapped sandwiches next to Roxanne's arm. There were also some boxed juices and small bags of chips. "If you eat all that, you're gonna get fat."

Roxanne's face turned red. "I'm not going to eat it all at once! Besides, most of them are in preparation for a trip Robert and I are going to be taking tomorrow."

"Oh, so you and Linny are finally a thing then?" Neil teased as he picked up one of his half sandwiches. "You two make a cute and creepy couple."

Roxanne's red face flushed more brightly. "It's not like that! It's a business trip; we're going out of state for a job."

Eva, who had already unwrapped her sandwich and taken a bite out of it, swallowed what she had in her mouth before speaking. "A job? What does it entail?"

"It's pretty much the same as the last one around Christmas, this woman's husband says his wife wants to see the world," Roxanna stated a-matter-of-factly. "It's pretty much one of those things the dying often wished they did."

"You're saying that this woman was in no state to call Sigmund Corporation herself? Why would the corporation accept such a job?" Eva continuously queried.

"Why do you think?" Roxanne said with a smirk. "It's because he's loaded. Me'n and Robert just got the details last night."

"A big commission then," Neil noted. "But of course, as typical of these bigwig types, if you mess up, the corporation is going to get sued. You might even get fired."

"That's not gonna happen," Roxanne said, though sounding slightly apprehensive.

"Well, at the very least, it'll be difficult," Neil insisted. "The fact that her husband made the call for her indicates that it was unplanned not to mention she is more than likely in a very unstable condition. Chances are she might even pass away before you could even finish the job."

Neil's statement momentarily ceased Roxanne's movements and she gave the table a blank stare.

"Um… Doctor Winters?" Emily waved a hand in front of Roxanne's eyes. "I don't think Doctor Watts means to say-"

"Oh yeah, no, it's not like I'm saying you _will _fail," Neil said, a devilish grin appearing on his face, "buuuuut, it's not like your clients can't afford a lawyer."

Roxanne did her best to exude confidence. "Y-yeah, so w-what? This wouldn't b-be our f-first time…"

Eva, rather than trying to placate Roxanne, merely watched on, amusedly, continuing to consume her barbeque-chicken sandwich. She had all the faith in the world in Roxanne, and of course someone with Robert's experience is sure to get the job done. Despite Eva's faith however, Roxanne was effectively immobilized by the thought of failure, enough so that Neil was able to sneakily swipe a juice box from Roxanne.

_Of course_, Eva noted to herself, _leave it to Neil to start playing mind games just so he can steal a juice box. _

"While we're on the topic of jobs," Neil said as he removed the straw from its wrapping and stabbed it into the box, "what's our job Eva?"

"The patient's ninety years old and is currently suffering from multiple organ failure!" Emily, rather gleefully, blurted out.

Neil raised an amused eyebrow. "You seem rather overjoyed by the fact."

"Ah, no! I didn't mean to come off like that!" Emily covered her cheeks to hide her blush. "It's just that this'll be my first time delving into another person's memories. I'm just grateful for the opportunity. I'm hoping that doesn't make me a bad person…"

"Hey now…" Neil leaned in towards Emily and gave her a comforting smile. Though surprised by Neil's sudden reassurance, Emily smiled back, expecting to hear additional words of security. Eva hid her frown behind her sandwich, not falling for Neil's pretense. "If people didn't get sick and die, we'd be out of business, yeah?"

"Uh… wha…" Emily's mouth slightly gaped as a dismayed expression took over her face. Neil leaned back in his seat and sipped triumphantly from his juice box, smirking at the two women in front of him who now held vacant stares. However, he quickly lost interest and went back to discussing the job.

"So how much are we getting?"

"The commission's small," Eva stated as she reached out for one of Roxanne's juice boxes. Neil slipped one across the table towards her. "But the job isn't too hard. The life support could keep him alive for a few more days; we won't need any more than two at most."

"Hm." Neil took a drawn out sip from his juice box until it created the raspy sound of near-empty container.

It took a while before Emily and Roxanne began to move, and even longer still before anyone said anything, having spent the majority of their lunch break in silence, a silence that had been broken once everyone had finish their meal, stepped outside the shop, and began their walk back to the corporation building, with Roxanne carrying all of her food and drinks in a plastic bag.

"_Braap,_" Neil belched out, not even making an effort to suppress it.

"Dr. Watts…" Emily pleaded as she placed her hand over her nose.

Eva simply rolled her eyes whilst Roxanne maintained the silent bearing Neil had instilled upon her in the sandwich shop.

"Keep your shirt on, it'd be unhealthy if I kept it in. 'Sides, Eva burps louder than I do. Serious, I got it on my phone, look."

"Neil, you show that video to anyone, I will shove it up your-"

"Switch with me," Roxanne interjected.

Eva and Neil exchanged confused glances.

"You want Eva to shove my phone up your-"

"No! I mean jobs, switch _jobs _with me!"

Eva looked at Roxanne disbelievingly. "Are you seriously telling me that what Neil said got to you?"

Rather than responding verbally, Roxanne gave Eva her best set of puppy-dog eyes. Eva's jaw slightly lowered at such a pathetic display. Neil began to eye the plastic bag filled with food Roxanne held, and when she took notice of the direction of his gaze, she extended the bag towards him.

"It can't be helped, I guess," Neil said as he accepted the bag from Roxanne.

"The boss isn't going to like this," Eva pointed out as she crossed her arms. "Roxanne, you should have more faith in yourself. Or at the very least, have some faith in your partner, Robert."

Roxanne lowered her face in shame. "I know."

"But I suppose its good news for you, Emily" Eva went on. "You'll be getting the experience you need for your dissertation soon enough."

Emily beamed at Eva before turning to Roxanne. "So what're the details?"

"Robert has the file, I'll get it to you guys sometime tonight," Roxanne answered cheerily, the prospect of a lawsuit now out of her mind.

Neil had begun to rummage through the bag of food, pulling out a plastic-wrapped sandwich.

"Seriously, you're gonna eat more?"

"But there are kids in Africa-"

"Why are you bringing that up?!"

* * *

><p>Neil finally arrived home, having stopped by the appliance store to buy himself another coffee maker, a French Press this time. A gleeful smile took hold of Neil as he rushed into his apartment, not even bothering to close the door behind him as he ran into the kitchen to begin unboxing his newest prized possession. As he excitedly began to pick at the circular piece of tape that sealed the box, a familiar penetrating sensation took hold of his shoulder.<p>

"Fuuuu… not now…"

Neil clenched his left hand over his aching shoulder in an attempt to replicate Eva's massage technique. For a moment, the pain seemed to have been alleviated and Neil returned his attention back to unpackaging his coffee maker. Neil paid for this lapse in concentration as an unforgiving jolt of agony surged from his shoulder and brought him down to his knees.

Neil gritted his teeth and beads of sweat began to form on his forehead as he dug his hand into his pocket and brought out his phone. His thumb fumbled all over the touchscreen as he vainly tried to operate the device whilst enduring intermittent bursts of pain. It seemed like an eternity before he had finally made his way into his contacts list, calling the person at the very top.

"Eva… help…"

* * *

><p>As always, please leave a review so I know how I'm doing :)<p> 


	3. The Prodigal Son

**Note from the Author:** Yeah, so this took longer than I thought. Why did it take so long? Because I suck at writing. I know that last chapter, I said I might start weekly updates, so I ended up writing a chapter in a week and it came out... horribly. I mean it was dreadful, wouldn't-wipe-my-butt-with-it bad. I then spent a couple of weeks deleting some paragraphs, rewriting some paragraphs, etc. etc. only to have it come out worse. I depressed me so much I kinda gave up writing for a little bit and ended up scraping it entirely.

Long story short, I finally got around to writing up this turd piece and spent the last two weeks polishing it, so now it's a kinda shiny turd. It's a turd because its not even worth the time I made you guys wait for you to read it. I couldn't even give it to my Beta Reader because I probably can't take his criticism about it.

You might notice this chapter will suffer some SERIOUS pacing issues. I was trying to find a balance between getting into the action right away, or having the story advance at its natural pace, and I didn't quite hit either, making this chapter even worse.

I promise I'll do better the next chapter, but when will that be, not even I know :(

* * *

><p>Chapter 3: The Prodigal Son<p>

Emily parked the company car Dr. Rosalene had asked her to retrieve at the front of an apartment building where, supposedly, Dr. Watts lives. Emily marveled at it, not because it possessed any majesty, on the contrary it was quite dreary, but rather because she never imagined Dr. Watts would stay in such a humbling abode. It was most likely made of concrete and had a dull pink color, prospectively a bright red finish that had faded throughout the years and left to degrade. Surrounding the apartment were small rows of dirt plots out of which bushes grew.

Emily, out of a small amount of boredom, then dug her hand into her pocket and took out a small container of over-the-counter sleeping pills.

"I wonder why she asked for this…" She leaned against the side of the car facing the apartment building before she took notice of a red Corolla on the opposite side of the street. "Isn't that Dr. Rosalene's car?"

The jingle of the bell attached to the apartment building's door caught Emily's attention and she looked up, spotting Eva emerging from the entrance.

"Oh! Dr. Rosalene!"

"Emily, good, you're here."

"D-did you spend the night… here?" Emily asked, trying to sound as casual as she could be.

"I did," Eva responded nonchalantly, not grasping Emily's meaning.

Emily hid her flushed cheeks behind her hands after receiving Eva's answer. _So they had _that _kind of relationship_.

Eva peered into the window of the backseat of the company car. "Looks like all the equipment is here; do you have the file from Roxanne, Emily?"

Emily's eyes widened when she realized her mistake. "Ah! I'm sorry Dr. Rosalene, I returned it to the clerk after I got the car! Please forgive me!"

"Did you at least take a look inside it?"

"Y-yes!" Emily blurted out whilst nodding her head incessantly in a vain attempt to appease. "I've gone over it several times the night I retrieved it from Dr. Winters!"

"Sorry for the trouble," Eva apologized as she leaned against the car alongside Emily. "I would have gotten it myself if Neil hadn't called me over."

Emily simply nodded, embarrassed.

"That guy kept me up all night, too. He's such a pain."

Emily's cheeks had veritably taken on the form of tomatoes. _Does Dr. Rosalene have no shame? _

"But, he's alright I guess. It's really hard to say no to him." Eva raised a bemused eyebrow when she caught sight of Emily shyly looking away from her after her statement. "Are you okay, Emily?"

Emily's response was interrupted by the jingle of the entry-bell which sounded off again, this time heralding the arrival of Neil. Emily had to suppress a gasp upon seeing the state in which Neil appeared.

Lines of red webbed across the sclera of both of his eyes. His normally well-combed hair was an out-of-bed mess and he seemed to have put on his clothes haphazardly, the buttons of his lab coat not even lining up properly with their respective button-holes. Eva let out a sigh and approached Neil, fixing his buttons, straightening his collar, and using her fingers to comb his hair into an acceptable style.

"Does it still hurt?" Eva asked him as she went about fixing his appearance.

"It's comes and goes in waves," Neil responded despondently.

"Are you sure you're up for this?"

"It doesn't really matter, does it?" Neil rubbed his eyes with the back of his arm. "There has to be two of us attending, and I don't think interns count toward that total. What I could use now is some sleep, but the pain is just…"

Eva placed a hand on his forearm and squeezed him comfortingly. "It's okay, I got that covered. Emily, the pills?"

"R-right!" Emily handed the container of over-the-counter sleeping pills to Eva who then opened it, placing two in her free palm, and handed them to Neil. Neil accepted the pills and tossed back his head as he swallowed them.

"Shotgun." Neil opened the door to the front passenger seat and clambered clumsily into the car. He reclined the seat back into its fullest extent, placed his glasses into the glove box, and lay down in the seat, the pills quickly taking effect.

Eva pushed his door close and turned to Emily. "Do you know where we're going?"

Emily nodded and with that answer, Eva circled around to the other side of the car and entered to the rear passenger seat behind the driver's seat.

"I guess I'm driving then. Okay." Once Emily had settled into the driver's seat and twisted the key in the ignition slot, she glanced to her right, eying Neil worriedly. "Will Dr. Watts be okay?"

Eva puffed her cheeks and let out a nasal sigh. "I hope so, that dope rarely wants to admit anything to me. As if he wasn't a big enough nuisance already."

"I can still hear you…" Neil grumbled in his half-sleep.

Emily took notice of Eva's pouty expression in the rear-view mirror before setting off down the road and out of the city. It wasn't long before the gentle hum of the vehicle's engine lulled Neil into sweet slumber and he began to produce a small buzz out his nose to accompany it in an awkward, raspy duet.

"So," Eva spoke up after a few minutes of driving. "Where're we heading to?"

"Just the next state over, in-" Emily's reply was cut short when a yawn escaped Eva's mouth.

Eva rubbed a yawn-induced tear out of her eye. "Mm, sorry, that was rude of me."

"You should get some rest too, Dr. Rosalene," Emily suggested. "I'll wake you up when we get there."

"Mm, okay. A little surprise then..." Eva leaned back in her seat, turned to her side and let out one more yawn before closing her eyes.

* * *

><p>"Zzz…" A soft drone emanated from Nicholas who was sitting by Arianna's bedside, his torso bowed forward as he laid his head by her arm, his hand gently clutching hers. The window that she and Nicholas were looking out of a day earlier was now spread wide open which allowed the sun to coat the room in its golden morning rays. Its warmth piqued Nicholas' biological urge to wake up and so he did, sitting straight up and rubbing his eyes clean from any remnants of the sandman's presence.<p>

Every aspect of Arianna's phenotypic being absolutely radiated in the sunlight, and as he was waking up, Nicholas briefly believed he was in the presence of an angelic being. After realizing it was his wife, the corners of his mouth pulled back into a gentle smile.

"You were always beautiful in the sunlight, _amore mio_." Nicholas daintily kissed her lips as he stood up. "You still are, and I never should have taken that from you."

"Boss!" The door to the bedroom slammed open, revealing a wide-eyed Anthony whose chest heaved heavily as he took in copious amounts of air. "Boss… outside! It's.…"

Too impatient to let Anthony catch his breath, Nicholas approached the open window and looked onto his front yard. Standing right outside his blackened cast iron gates was a square-faced old man who glumly stared at the ground accompanied by two other men.

"Bazzoli!" Nicholas fumed, slamming the bottom of his fist on the windowsill. The impact drew the attention of Durante Bazzoli, prompting him to look up at the window where Nicholas stood. Nicholas gave Durante a grievous scowl before shutting the windows close.

Nicholas brushed past Anthony on his way out the room and swiftly descended down the stairs, out the foyer, and into his front yard, each step he made making a definitive thud against the paved walkway that led from the front gate to his home.

"You got some _stugots_ showing your face around here, _stronzo!_" Nicholas pointed an accusatory finger at Durante. "_Che cazzo vuoi_?!"

"There's no need for such strong language, _signore _Scardato," Durante replied in kind with a thick Sicilian accent. "I'm just here for the apology you owe me."

"_Stronzata!_" Nicholas spat in Durante's face. "As if it's _me_, who owes _you _one. How'd you get out? You had at least ten more years!"

"Did you assume that I or my family did something _dannoso_? No." Durante shook his head. "It took many, many calls, yes, many calls to the family _avvocato_ to find the evidence proving my innocence."

Nicholas bared his teeth. "You're as innocent as a Borgia."

"_Sono innocente_," Durante insisted. "What good would it have done me if-"

"You tell me!" Nicholas interrupted. "Because of you… my son… my wife can't even… doesn't even want to…" Nicholas' body had begun to shake and he turned his back towards Durante. "Just go away, I'll deal with you later."

"I heard about your wife," Durante spoke up as Nicholas began to walk away. "_Mi dispiace_."

Nicholas was back at his gate in a flash, his arm between the bars as his hand gripped tightly onto Durante's collar. The men accompanying Durante reach into their jackets but were stayed by a raised hand by Mr. Bazzoli.

"How the hell did you hear about my wife?"

Durante leaned in and whispered at Nicholas. "That is irrelevant. What matters is this. There's a _volpe _at play in the shadows. A _burattinaio_ manipulating some strings. I can tell because there was a surprising amount of unrest within my own family at my own return. Someone intends to take advantage of this situation, as they did years ago, when your _padre _passed away."

"The only one who took advantage of that situation was you, _signore _Bazzoli." Nicholas sneered at him contemptuously before he released him and stalked back into his home.

"Don't say I didn't warn you…"

Nicholas was no fool. Even broiling with hatred, he still heard what Mr. Bazzoli had to say, and his eyes began to shift suspiciously as he observed his surroundings once he made it back into his home. They briefly glimpsed at Anthony who stood at the bottom of the stairs as he looked back awkwardly at Nicholas, apprehensively waiting for orders.

_He's not smart enough to try anything grand, but he can be manipulated… _Nicholas mused. _But then again, that old bastard could just be lying_. Nicholas sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. _It doesn't matter now, so long as nothing happens before those doctors come, nothing else matters. _

"Go home, Anthony, there's no more to be done."

"Y'sure boss? It's no inconvenience to me if you need to me to hang around."

"…" Nicholas regarded Anthony distrustfully. _Anthony usually takes any excuse to leave. _

Anthony laughed sheepishly at the way Nicholas observed him. Seeming to come to a disinterested conclusion, Nicholas then looked away and proceeded up the stairs. "Do what you like then."

* * *

><p><em>"Dad, I don't want to ride in the car, I wanna be on the bus with my friends!"<em> _A small boy with messy head of brown hair and circular-rimmed glasses bemoaned as he looked up at his well-dressed father as they stood outside their estate. _

_ "Giovanni," the father said sternly, though still trying to sound gentle, "it might be a while before you can ride the bus." _

_ The boy pouted at his father. "Why?" _

_ The father opened his mouth to answer, but hesitated in providing one. The man accompanying Giovanni's father leaned in to whisper in the father's ear, though spoke loudly enough for Giovanni to hear. "Maybe you should tell him about the PlayStation in the car…"_

_ "A PlayStation?!" Overhearing the man, Giovanni ran to the black Mercedes with heavily tinted windows, struggled to pull open its excessively armored rear door, clambered into the vehicle, and pulled the door shut. _

_ "Hey guys, anyone up for some Smash Bros at my place?" A preadolescent Giovanni with a face peppered with acne and an upper lip bristling with stubble look down expectantly at his friends who sat at a cafeteria table. _

_ They looked up at him briefly before looking away, and Giovanni could hear a collective intake of breath from the entire group. _

_ "Guys?" _

_ "I-I, I can't," one of them managed to stammer out, though he was unable to look at Giovanni. "I'm… busy…" _

_ "Y-yeah, me too," another one spoke up. The others began to murmur out their excuses and there was a general consensus that none of them could make it. _

_ Giovanni took a seat at the table and he took notice of the way they slightly inched themselves away from him. "Guys, what's going on?" _

_ Giovanni's friends looked to each other awkwardly before one of them turned to answer him. "My parents… _Our _parents, don't want us hanging around you anymore…"_

_ Giovanni's eyes began to water in disbelief. "What? That's not fair! I didn't do anything." _

_ "But your dad did…" One of them softly pointed out, with the entire group nodding their heads in agreement. _

_ "But… that's not… fair…" Giovanni looked at his friends pleadingly, though none of them had the heart to look back at him, as if he were no more than a ghostly existence by now. _

_ With his head hung low, Giovanni stood up and walked away, his body shuddering with suppressed feelings of sadness and rage. _

_ Giovanni stared at his laptop stoically, a blank page document mocking him as his fingers rested lightly on the keyboard. _

_ "Well, how's my handsome boy doing!" exclaimed a freckled blonde woman as she walked into his room and made a beeline towards him on his bed, planting a large kiss on the side of his head. She then ran an index finger along the hairs that connected his mustache and his goatee. "Or should I be calling you a man?" _

_ "Hey mom," Giovanni bleakly replied. _

_ "You know, your teachers called." The mother suddenly took an authoritative tone. "You haven't been turning in your signed progress reports." _

_ "I'm sure they told you my grades over the phone," Giovanni stated a matter-of-factly, still staring down the blank text document._

_ The mother couldn't contain her wide grin as she placed another kiss on Giovanni's temple. "All A's! I can't believe I have such a smart child! But even so, I should still see your progress reports, your teacher's might think I don't care about your education; that there's no accountability for you at home." _

_ Giovanni nodded absent-mindedly. "Fine." _

_ The mother frowned and looked at the laptop's screen. "Having trouble with your assignment?" _

_ Giovanni looked at his mother indignantly then smirked at her. "Hah, as if." He scrolled down past the blank page, revealing pages of APA formatted paragraphs. "I just need a decent title for my title page." _

_ The mother couldn't help but smile at her own son's cockiness. "Can't you ask a friend for help?" _

_ The smirk Giovanni had dissipated and he let out a sigh as he scrolled back up to the blank page. "I haven't had a friend since middle school." _

_ The mother leaned in towards her son and wrapped an arm around him. "You're such a clever boy, I'm sure you can make some very easily." _

_ Giovanni pulled himself away. "You know as well as I do why I can't. People like me can't make friends with normal, _sane, _people." _

_ "You don't have to become your father, _mio figlio prediletto_." _

"_Yeah, tell _him_ that." _

"Mmm… hey mom, meet Eva… my lab partner, she's gonna be… staying over for… dinner… zzz…" Neil's grumblings caught the ear of Emily as she pulled out of the freeway and into the outskirts of a port-side city.

An unceremonious bump in the road stirred Eva from her sleep and she awoke, stretching her arms wide and letting out an uncouth yawn.

"How was your nap, Dr. Rosalene?" Emily asked.

Eva rubbed her eyes with her coat sleeve. "Not bad, considering it was in a car seat."

"So, apparently you and Dr. Watts were lab partners, I presume in high school?"

Eva raised a skeptic eyebrow. "Um, yeah, how'd you know?"

"Dr. Watts was grumbling about it in his sleep," Emily answered as she gestured towards Neil. "He was pretty much grumbling the entire trip but that was the only coherent thing that came out of him."

"Hm, is that right?" Eva looked out the passenger window. "I don't know why, but this place seems pretty…" Eva's eyes dilated and she let out a small gasp. "Oh sh…"

Emily peered into her rearview mirror. "Is something wrong, Dr. Rosalene?"

"Neil's not awake, right?"

"Um, no, he's out like a-"

"Are you sure this is where we have to go?" Eva interposed.

"Um, uh…" Emily hesitated.

"Emily!"

"Y-yes!" Emily answered. "This is the city, this was in the file!"

Eva began to rub her forehead with her fingers. "This isn't good. Neil is going to freak out. Oh, and Durante Bazzoli! If he finds out Neil's here…"

"Dr. Rosalene, you're scaring me!"

Eva took a few deep breaths and closed her eyes. After a moment's amount of peace, she opened her eyes and began to speak soothingly. "Everything will be alright. There's no need to panic, so long as we keep our heads low, and avoid going anywhere else between the distances from this car to the client's home, nothing should happen."

"Dr. Rosalene," Emily spoke up tentatively, "should I be worried?"

Eva reached for Emily's shoulder and squeezed it comfortingly. "There's no need to be. So what's the home address?"

"Scarborough Heights."

"What?" Eva asked disbelievingly.

"Um, Scarborough Heights?" Emily repeated apprehensively.

Eva allowed that piece of information to sink in before she spoke up. "The house number, it wouldn't happen to be two-eleven, would it?"

"If you mean two hundred eleven… it is, is that a problem Dr. Rosalene?"

Eva leaned back in her seat and hid her face behind her palm. She then emitted a small squeal, as if she were vainly trying to suppress the urge to scream.

"Dr. Rosalene?"

"Emily."

"Y-yes?"

"It's time to be worried."

"Oh no…"

It was a while before they reached their destination, and Eva took the time to run various scenarios in her head, though as they parked right in front of a large estate, surrounded by a wall which was cleverly and discretely lined with rosebushes acting as makeshift barbwire, Eva had finally come to a startling realization, regarding the woman whose memories they were about to alter.

There was only one woman she had ever seen in this house. "Mrs. Scardato…"

"Dr. Rosalene?"

Eva snapped out her reverie. "Hm? Yes, Emily?"

"You seem kind of horrified to be here. Do you and Dr. Watts have some history with this place?"

"More than either of us would have preferred…" Eva opened her door and stepped out of the car. She eyed the property anxiously then leaned in towards Emily's window.

Emily rolled down her window so that she could hear Eva. "I'm going to head in first; you stay here with Neil, okay?"

"And if Dr. Watts wakes up?"

"Knock him out, if possible."

Emily laughed timidly. "You sound so serious…"

Eva gave the manor another uneasy look. "I am."

Eva approached the mansion and stood right outside its large iron gates. She looked at either side and spotted a buzzer attached to a two-way intercom, and promptly pressed it.

"_**Bzzt. Scardato Residence." **_

"Hello, my name is Dr. Rosalene, with Sigmund Corporation. I believe our services are needed?"

"_**You sound kinda familiar." **_

Eva rolled her eyes. She recognized the voice at the other end. _Anthony's as thick as ever. _"I don't think Mr. Scardato would appreciate you delaying my arrival."

"_**Ah, crap, you're right. Yeah, yeah, come in, hurry." **_

Eva took a nervous gulp as the gate slid open. Each step closer to the building made her heart race as she tried to come up with a plan. No doubt the Mr. Scardato would recognize her and question her about Neil, and of course once Neil wakes up there's no way Emily would actually knock him out.

"This has disaster written all over it."

Once Eva was close enough, one of the large double-doors that served as the entrance to the building opened and revealed Anthony. Upon seeing Eva, his eyes broadened and he pointed a finger at her. "Y-you, you're-"

"It's rude to point," Eva interjected. "Still catering to the whims of Giovanni's father?"

"I just saw your parents yesterday!" Anthony exclaimed as he gave her a wide smile. "_Signore _Scardato had me trying to track Lil' Gio down and I figured he'd be with you!"

Eva flinched slightly at the news. _Looks like they could have found Neil if they really wanted to_.

"So, where's that guy? Your parents told me you were working with someone named Neil, that's obviously him, right?"

Eva ignored the question and countered one with her own. "Where's Mrs. Scardato? I'd like to check on her immediately."

"Oh, yeah sure, follow me." Anthony beckoned Eva to follow and he led the way up the stairs. "When I heard the _Don _was planning on hiring you Sigmund Corp. folks, for this wish granting business of yours, I thought I'd look it up and see what it's all about. Where's all the fancy equipment and stuff?"

"Should you really be referring to him as '_don' _around me?" Eva asked incredulously.

Anthony let out a hearty laugh and patted her playfully on the back. "Hah! It's no secret to you what we are! So's the equipment in that car out there? I could go grab it if you need."

"N-no! It's fine," Eva quickly insisted. At the top of the stairs, the two of them took a left and followed the hall down towards a lone door that led to the master bedroom.

"Welp, she's in here, along with _signore _Scardato." Anthony gestured towards the door. "I have a feeling the _don _is tired of seeing me for the day, so you could go introduce yourself. He always liked you anyways."

Anthony then left, leaving Eva alone to steel her resolve.

"This is for the company… this is for the company…"She took a deep breath and knocked three times on the door. "Mr. Scardato? I'm Dr. Rosalene from Sigmund Corporation."

For a moment, there was no answer, and as Eva was about to knock again, a reply came from within. "Come in."

Eva took hold of the doorknob, twisted it gingerly, and slowly pushed open the door, preparing to see the worst. At first, all she saw was Nicholas' back as he sat in a chair by the bedside, though as the gap between the doorway and the door widened, several medical machines came into view, as did the person they were all attached too.

"Oh my god… Mrs. Scardato…" Eva placed her fingers over her mouth to suppress a gasp.

Nicholas turned his head to face her and raised his eyebrows in surprise upon seeing it was Eva, though he was too bereaved to express anything else. "I had Anthony try and track you down a day earlier… Said he found out who you and Giovanni worked for… Never mentioned who though."

"It's Anthony," Eva commented, "He probably forgot to make the connection."

A small chuckle came out from Nicholas. "Not too bright, is he? At least not as much as you or…"

"So, how is Mrs. Scardato's condition? Normally, her acting physician would be here as well to tell me."

"That _ciarlatano's _not here. Probably won't be coming back. No accountability, these concierge doctors," Nicholas answered spitefully. "Giovanni, is he here with you?"

Eva wanted to refrain from answering, though the subtle movements on her face clued Nichilas in to all he need to know.

"He is, isn't he?" Nicholas stood up and confronted Eva. "Why isn't he here? His own mother is in that bad and he's too-"

"He's asleep," Eva cut in as Nicholas' voice was about to reach shouting levels, "in the car out front. He doesn't even know we're here; _I _didn't even know you were our clients until the intern driving us pulled out of the freeway and into this city."

"So Giovanni doesn't know?"

Eva bit her bottom lip. "Your son… is not in the best condition right now, and I don't want to exacerbate it with bad news."

"He would want to know about his mother. He _needs _to know about his mother."

Eva sighed and gave a conceding nod. "He does, and he will, _after _he wakes up. I'm in no rush to deliver the news. Now, I don't mean to be cold, but please understand that you are our client, so if you could discuss with me the details of Mrs. Scardato's wish?..."

* * *

><p>"Mm, are we stopped? Does that mean we're here?" Neil mumbled aloud as he stood up from his reclined seat, having just awoken. Emily examined him fearfully as she recalled Eva's unsettling command to knock him out should he come awake.<p>

"Um, Dr. Watts, maybe you should rest a bit more." Emily tried to push Neil back down into his sleeping situation though he countered her attempts by bringing the seat to its upright position.

"I'm fine; I had enough rest, where the heck is Eva?" Neil opened the glove compartment and took out his glasses. Emily made pathetic attempt to snatch them away from him though her hand fell miserably short as he brought them down towards his lab coat to wipe them clean, Neil not even noticing her actions.

"Dr. Watts, I must insist that you…"

The rest of Emily's words fell on deaf ears as Neil stared at his old home incredulously. A myriad of emotions began to flutter within him, many of which contradicted each other and expressed themselves simultaneously, making him feel both jubilation and hate, assuredness and fear. But soon, only the latter manifested itself within him as his mind began to form a connection between the woman in the house, and her association with him.

"Mom…"

Emily could only vainly reach out for him as he opened the door and ran out, running faster than his non-athletic build would indicate. He was momentarily stymied by the iron gates as his emotions temporarily governed his thoughts, and he took hold of the bars and tried to force them open. He then took notice of the buzzer system and he impatiently mashed his finger upon it.

"_**Oi, you only got ring once, ya hear?"**_

"Open the gate!"

"_**Hey buddy, who do ya think you-"**_

"Open the gate or I will feed you to Luigi's dogs!"

"_**Fluffy and Fifi?! I ain't having none o' that!" **_

The gates slid open for Neil and he ran inside. Curious to see who their rude visitor was, Anthony had preemptively opened the door for Neil who then brushed past him, knocking him aside and taking the steps leading to the second floor two at a time.

"That was… Lil' Gio, wasn't it?"

The conversation that Eva and Nicholas held was disturbed when the sound of frantic and heavy footsteps began to dominate their discussion. A moment later, the door swung wide open, a tired and distraught Neil standing in the doorway. He and Nicholas eyed each other, neither one making an expression. Neil was the first to break eye contact when he shifted his attention towards the woman on the bed.

"Mom…"

Neil took soft steps, as if he didn't want to wake her up, when he approached her bedside. He gently took Arianna's hand in his and looked down upon her pale face. Then, as if the weight of the world had suddenly been placed onto his shoulders, he fell to his knees, his face on his mother's abdomen as he soaked it with a cascade of tears.

* * *

><p><strong>Authors Note: <strong>So yeah, a horrible chapter, sorry you guys had to read that. If you could leave a review telling me just how horrible, it would be much appreciated.


	4. Reunion

**Authors Note: **Took a bit longer than I would have preferred but yay I got it out I guess. The next chapter is gonna be delayed quite a bit because of college and my work with another project (my third oneshot, the sequel to A Strand of Grey Hair).

Beta Read by RadioStarx7

* * *

><p>Chapter 4: Reunion<p>

"How's the _caffѐ, _Giovanni?" Nicholas asked his son who was seated across from him. Neil stared disappointingly into the diminutive cup he held, his lips curled in a grimace before he looked back up at his father.

Neil took a sip and put down the cup before answering. "It tastes like shit."

The only form of consolation Nicholas could offer was an indifferent shrug. "I'm not surprised. The coffee grounds I used were from around the time you left the house."

"Bleh!" Neil let out an exaggerated gag. "Damn you, old man! You tryin' to kill me?!"

"Don't be such a _bambino_, you'll live."

Emily watched the dialogue apprehensively, the atmosphere both father and son emitted sending shivers down her spine. Despite Nicholas' reserved demeanor, a somewhat menacing aura seemed to emanate from him, like a black widow on its web. Neil on the other hand practically radiated fire and threatened to scorch anyone who came near.

"You all right, Emily?" Eva whispered into Emily's ear.

"I never thought Dr. Watts could be so scary…" Emily whispered back. "But I think his father is scarier."

"I suppose if you were to compare them to dogs, Neil's dad would be the silent Rottweiler on the porch while Neil would be the yappy Chihuahua," Eva nodded in agreement. She tugged on Emily's sleeve and led her out of the dining room and back out to the foyer. "Let's just leave them for now."

Emily peered pensively over her own shoulder. "Would it really be okay? Neil seems to be aggravating him and I think I saw a gun in his father's jacket."

"Neil is gonna be fine," Eva insisted. Any further discussion was interrupted when Anthony entered the mansion, carrying a large metallic box.

Anthony put down the box and wiped the sweat off his brow. "Whew, this thing's pretty heavy, ain't it? What'cha got in here, a body?"

The very suggestion made Emily shudder. Though no one had ever said anything to her, it didn't take much for Emily to work out what line of business Neil's family was in. To make things worse, here was one of the henchmen, joking about bodies in containers as if it were actually amusing.

"Be careful," Eva cautioned, "there's a lot of expensive equipment in there."

"Yeah, yeah." Anthony clambered up the stairs, followed by Eva and Emily. Despite being encumbered by the equipment, Anthony had made it to the bedroom faster than both Eva and Emily, and placed the box down on the floor.

Eva unlocked the box and started to sift through the contents within.

Anthony let out a whistle as Eva took out a helmet and began to examine it. "That looks pretty futuristic."

"Mhm," Eva dully replied. "We're gonna need a table to set up the computer."

"I'll get it for you."

Though Eva was too busy checking the equipment to notice, Emily couldn't help but observe the sorrowful, lingering look Anthony had given to the near-comatose Arianna before he headed out the door. Though mystified, Emily was immediately infatuated by the gear.

"I can't believe it," Emily tearfully spoke up as she approached Eva, "the Sigmund Agency of Life Generation helmet! I actually get to _wear _it!" Emily excitedly looked towards Eva, whose expression was surprisingly stoic.

"Ah! I just realized how rude I was, acting so excited within proximity of the client!" Emily hid her flushed face behind her hands.

Eva placed the helmet she was examining back into the box. "Well, at least you're not as rude as Neil."

Emily walked up to Arianna's bedside and lowered her head respectfully. "Forgive my discourtesy, Mrs. Scardato."

"I'm sure she'll forgive you." Eva stood by Emily and looked down at Arianna with a gentle smile. "She was a really nice woman and pretty much the only person who could get Neil to behave like a good boy."

"She's so beautiful," Emily added; her tone a mixture of amazement and jealousy.

"I'm glad you think so." Eva and Emily turned to see it was Nicholas who had spoken as he emerged through the doorway. He too went to Arianna's bedside as he gave her a longing gaze and cupped her cheek with his hand. "I nearly crashed my bike into street light when I first saw her."

"You ride motorcycles, Mr. Scardato?" Emily asked.

Nicolas gave Emily a warm smile. "Nah. I was seven at the time, racing some of my buddies down the street by the seaside. I saw her building a castle on the beach and the way she just… glowed."

Emily placed her fingers over her mouth. "Aww, that's so sweet."

"I got off my bike, walked over to her, and kicked down her castle. I blamed her for making me lose the race."

Emily's mouth dropped in dismay. "That's not so sweet."

Nicholas let out a chuckle and sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Of course, she started cryin', and everyone was looking so to get her to stop I bought her some ice cream. I guess you could say that was our first date."

Nicholas had won back Emily, and she was grinning from ear to ear. "That's so wonderful, Mr. Scardato."

Some scuffling out in the hallway drew the trio's attention, and they watched as Neil entered the room backwards, holding on to one end of a desk. Anthony then came into view with the other end and they placed it parallel to the foot of the bed.

The desk itself was rather decorative, the table legs resembling lion's feet and a draconic visage etched into the woodwork around the desk's side. If there were any flaws, it was the large amount of brown rings that stained the right hand corners of the desk.

Eva ran a hand nostalgically over the desk's surface. "Neil's, or rather, Giovanni's old desk. I did more AP homework on top of this thing than I ever did at home."

Emily gave Eva a puzzled glance. "But it's Dr. Watts desk, isn't it?"

"That dope would just lie in his bed like the useless lump he is and copy what I wrote later."

"We took turns!" Neil argued. "Whatever, let's just get this computer set up and-"

Eva interrupted Neil by tugging on his sleeve. "Actually, Neil, let's have Emily set up the computer. We need to talk about something else."

Neil followed Eva out of the bedroom and down the hallway, away from any prying ears.

"What's up?" Neil asked.

"Neil," Eva hesitantly began. Neil drummed his foot on the floor impatiently, crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at her. Eva let out an exhale and tried again. "Neil, you're not going into your mother's memories."

At first, Neil's eyes widened in surprise, though they quickly daggered into glares. "What the hell are you talking about? She's _my mother_."

"Neil, this would compromise your professional integrity."

"You think I give a damn about that?!" Neil seemed to loom over Eva like a giant, though she kept her ground.

"As unconventional and in some cases, unqualified as we are, the public still sees us as physicians, and it's best if we act in accordance with this perception. You are too emotionally involved and if the corporation were to find out, and they will, we don't know what might happen to you! And your mother wouldn't want for you to end up throwing away all your hard work!"

At first Neil was silent. Then, he clenched his hands into fists. A shudder enveloped him. "But… but she's my mom… And I… I abandoned her! I should be able to do this one thing for her…. To make her happy…"

A tear began to make its descent from the corner of his eye though any more were stymied when Eva wrapped her arms around him and placed a hand behind his head, bringing his face close to her shoulder. Neil buried his face within the hair that rested along the nape of her neck and enveloped her waist with his arms.

"I'll be sure to give your mother joyful memories, I promise," Eva whispered into Neil's ear.

* * *

><p>"Y'sure all we gotta do is plug it in?" Anthony asked as he held onto the electrical wire that was connected to the computer Emily had set up.<p>

Emily pressed the tips of her index fingers together abashedly. "It should be fine…"

"If you say so…" Anthony put the chord into the socket and almost immediately, the lights in the room flickered. "Waah! You said it would be fine!"

"I-it is!"

"The hell is with all the commotion?" Neil stepped into the room authoritatively, giving Emily and Anthony an imposing glower. "That's my mother in that bed, you know."

Neil's presence seemed to mimic Nicholas', and the chided duo quickly uttered their apologies before stepping out of Neil's way as he approached the computer. He pressed a button on the device, prompting the folded glass screen of the computer to open up to its full size.

Eva then came into the room, wheeling in two computer chairs. "Some more furniture from Neil's old room. We're gonna need some place to sit still while we have the helmets on."

Emily looked at Eva questioningly. "There's only two?"

"Since Mrs. Scardato's primary-care physician is not present, it'll be Neil who'll be monitoring her condition," Eva answered as she ushered a chair towards Emily.

Neil reached into the box containing the equipment, took out a helmet, and handed it to Nicholas. "Put this helmet on mom. It'll be the equivalent of having your 'permission' to proceed."

Nicholas took the helmet and turned it over in his hands, giving it an uncertain once-over. "Such a strange and unnatural-looking device. A fitting look for an unnatural procedure."

"We can give mom her wish this way."

Nicholas curled his lip contemptuously. "Or you could have stayed, and I wouldn't ever have to consider such a sacrilegious practice."

"I _knew _you were gonna bring that up at some point, old man!" A vein began to bulge out of Neil's temple. "You gonna put it on mom or what?"

Nicholas pulled a face and walked up to Arianna, helmet in hand. Before he did anything else however, he turned back to Neil. "Are you sure that by doing this, she'll be happy?"

Neil softened his expression, and gave his father an affirming nod. Nicholas then turned back to Arianna and cradled the back of her head with one hand as he gingerly raised it, before placing the helmet over her head with the other.

Neil took out two other helmets from the box and gave one each to Emily and Eva. "The two of you, sit down and put these on, I'll prep the memory traversal sequence."

"You ready?" Eva asked Emily as she donned her helmet.

The way Emily's heart drummed within her nearly left her breathless, though she still managed a confirmatory, "Yes!"

Neil tapped a few on the keys on the keyboard. "Okay then, here we go."

And Emily's vision blackened.

* * *

><p>When Emily regained her vision, or at least what her mind perceived as vision, she found herself standing in the master bedroom, looking at the backside of Arianna who sat up in her bed, staring out the window opposite of Emily. Nicholas was also in the room, looking out the very same window.<p>

"Disabling interactivity with all but Arianna." Emily looked to her right to see that it was Eva who had spoken. Nicholas then took on a transparent hue whilst Arianna remained the same.

"It's beautiful," Arianna softly spoke. This elicited no reaction from Nicholas. "Nicholas?"

"Mrs. Scardato?" Eva called out to Arianna. Arianna's head turned toward Eva and Emily's position.

Her gazed was fixed primarily on Eva, who tried her best to give Arianna a reassuring smile. Arianna smiled back and turned animatedly towards her husband. "Nicholas, look! Eva's here!"

Again, no response came out of Nicholas, though this time, Arianna was too excited to notice. "Eva! If you're here, that must mean Giovanni's here too, right? Nicholas, why haven't you said anything yet?"

To answer her question in Nicholas' stead, Eva extended an arm towards Nicholas. Like magic, he faded out of existence, and Arianna's eyes widened in shock. "How did you…"

"Because this is just a memory," Eva preemptively answered. She then gestured towards Emily. "This is Emily Stevens, and we're here on behalf of the Sigmund Agency of Life Generation. Are you familiar with what we do?"

Arianna's jaw lowered slightly as she nodded. For a moment, she said nothing, only blinking incomprehensively. "And Giovanni? Obviously Giovanni would have followed you."

Eva shook her head. "You're right, he did follow me. But the corporation wouldn't let him come."

Emily fidgeted upon hearing the lie, though she kept silent.

Seeking comfort, Arianna hugged a pillow. "He wouldn't come anyway, I told him he had to stay away… He's a good boy like that."

_Dr. Watts, a good boy? _Emily questioned to herself disbelievingly.

"I actually visited the website some time ago," Arianna went on. "I didn't think I would actually call…"

"Actually, it was your husband that called on your behalf," Eva clarified. "He told us that you wanted to see the world, with him and your son?"

Arianna looked down thoughtfully for one second, then smiled and nodded. "Yes, yes I do, actually. The thought of it exhilarates me."

"Would you tell me why?"

Arianna raised an eyebrow at Eva. "Isn't it obvious? I want to be with my family."

"But why the world?" Eva clarified. "It's a simple manner of bringing Giovanni back into your memories as if he never left, but why would you want to see the world as well?"

"You know what Nicholas does for a living, Eva," Arianna spoke somberly. "It's dangerous here, the things I've seen were horrible, and Giovanni was always at risk! Just like that one time…"

"I understand, Mrs. Scardato. With that in mind, Emily and I should be able to accomplish our task."

Arriana looked up at Eva with a frown. "But doing it this way, the memory won't be real, will it? It's just not right…"

Eva walked closer to the bed, and took Arianna's hands in hers. "Mrs. Scardato, you have no idea how badly your son wanted to be here. And if he was here, he would be telling you just how much he believes in what Sigmund Corporation does. He understands that not everybody accomplishes what they set out to do, and despite what he says, or how he acts, I know that he enjoys making sure that our clients do not leave this life without any regrets."

Arianna wrapped her arms around Eva's shoulders and brought her in for a hug. "That does sound like him."

_Does it really? _Emily once again, silently questioned.

"I hope it's not a bother, but would it be okay if I revised my wish?" Arianna asked as she pulled away from Eva.

"I made a promise to your son to make you happy. Your wish is my command."

"If it's okay with you…" Arianna nervously began, her pale face suddenly regaining color as she blushed. "I'd like you to be there with us…"

Eva nodded affirmatively. "Of course, Mrs. Scardato, I'm flattered."

"And I want you and Giovanni to give me grandkids!" Arianna suddenly exclaimed.

"What?!" Eva and Emily blurted out in unison.

Eva let out an uneasy laugh. "You don't really want that."

"Yes, I do." Arianna pouted and stuck out her bottom lip profusely. "Can't I wish for anything I want?"

Eva's eye twitched slightly. "O-okay…"

Arianna brought Eva back in to renew the hug. "Such a sweet girl. I'm glad you're my daughter-in-law."

The scene had Emily nervously giddy. _She sure has Dr. Rosalene's number_.

This time, Eva pulled herself out of the hug. "Now, Mrs. Scardato, to grant you your wish, we do so by instilling the desire needed to fulfill it into your childhood memories. We might also modify some of your later memories to help make the world your mind creates consistent and to fulfill any secondary conditions required to spark your desire. Afterwards, your mind will create new memories consistent with your childhood desire along with any modifications to any memories we make. We will be hopping through your memories until we reach a suitable point for memory revision, but to do so, we need a memento. Do you have one that you could provide for us?"

"A memento…" Arianna reached towards the drawers at the side of her bed and opened the topmost drawer. Eva nearly gasped when she saw what Arianna had taken out.

It was light-pink origami rabbit with a set of pearl earrings pinned to its arms, as if presenting them as a gift.

_There's no way this is a coincidence_, Eva mused to herself. "I'll take a moment to prepare this memento, Mrs. Scardato."

While Eva was busy with the rabbit, Arianna shifted her attention towards Emily who found the need to stand at attention. "Eva mentioned your name was Emily, correct?"

"Y-yes ma'am!" Emily nodded furiously.

Arianna let out a chuckle. "What are you, a soldier?"

"She takes orders like one," Eva chimed in while still preparing the origami creation.

"I'd like to apologize for what you're about to see," Arianna directed towards Emily. "You seem so innocent."

"What I'm about to see?"

Arianna looked away regretfully. "You'll see what I mean."

"It's done," Eva stated as she placed the origami rabbit on Arianna's bedside. "It's time for me and Emily to move on, Mrs. Scardato."

"Okay," Arianna accepted, somewhat sorrowful. "Before you go, would you give Nicholas and Giovanni, or rather, Neil, my love?"

"Of course, Mrs. Scardato." Just as Eva activated the memento to bring herself and Emily to the next memory, a thought struck her. _How did she know Giovanni's new name was Neil? _

* * *

><p>"So, how's it going so far?" Nicholas asked Neil, who sat on the bed, holding his mother's hand.<p>

Neil gesticulated with his shoulder. "I dunno."

"Can't you check on the computer?"

Neil glanced over his shoulder to check the computer screen, which had been repositioned along the far wall on top of his old desk. "Says they've completed one memory hop. It doesn't mean much though, some people require a few hops, others many."

Nicholas scratched his cheek apprehensively, not sure how to continue the conversation. "How have you been doing, Giovanni?"

"It's Neil now."

"After your grandfather," Nicholas pointed out.

"Yeah," was Neil's curt reply.

Nicholas let out a heavy exhale through his nose. _All these years, and I still can't have a proper conversation with him_.

"So. Bazzoli was released, wasn't he?"

"Huh?" Neil's sudden mention of Bazzoli had nearly tripped Nicholas over. "Er, yeah. That rat even had the stones to show up at our gate."

Neil took a look out the window though he failed to discern anything due to the combination of the dark sky and the tinting of the window. "What for?"

"It's nothing. There's nothing to be afraid of."

"I ain't scared!" Neil resentfully retorted. "It'd just be a pain if something were to happen right now, is all."

Nicholas nodded solemnly. "It would be, wouldn't it?"

With that said, Nicholas headed for the exit, though not without Neil's notice. "Where're you going?"

Nicholas paused at the doorway before answering. "Just downstairs. I need to call Cassius."

_Cassius_, Neil thought to himself as he watched his father leave the room. _I nearly forgot about that geezer. _

* * *

><p>Again, Emily and Eva found themselves in the master bedroom, though this time, the bed was unoccupied. Instead of being in the bed, Arianna sat on a stool beside a vanity which she hunched over, her hand clutched tightly onto a pen which she used to scribble furiously onto a piece of paper.<p>

"That vanity wasn't there before," Emily observed. She then gasped and placed her hands over her mouth as she stared at Arianna's backside warily.

"It's fine," Eva placated. "I've already put us observer mode. She won't be able to hear or see us."

"O-okay."

Eva walked up to Arianna and gave her a sorrowful look. "As for the vanity, it probably had to be moved for the life support machines."

Eva leaned over to look at what Arianna was writing. Above the paper that Arianna wrote on was the origami rabbit, still holding onto the pearl earrings and to the right was a card containing various symbols which Arianna would glance at intently every few seconds.

"It looks like some kind of code," Emily noted. "Is she trying to translate it?"

Eva examined the paper Arianna wrote on, finding several letters stringed together, but not forming any coherent words. "Looks like it, but she doesn't seem to be having much success."

A gasp then emerged from Arianna and she eagerly began to jot down what had come to her mind. Eva and Emily just as keenly looked over Arianna's shoulder to see the result of her epiphany. A drop of water suddenly stained what she had written, Eva immediately recognizing it as a tear. A joyful smile appeared on Arianna's face as she read the sentence she wrote out as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

_**Happy Mother's Day**_**, **_**Mom. **_

"Oh my god! It's a mother's day gift from Dr. Watts!" Emily could hardly contain her glee. "But why is the card written in a code?"

"No clue." A clicking sound came from Eva and Arianna seemed to sit unnaturally still. "I paused the memory, now it's time to look for memory links and the next memento."

"Memory links?" Emily asked.

"Memento's beyond the first one provided by the client are protected by a barrier. We need to gather five memory links in order to shatter the barrier and get access to the memento," Eva explained.

"But why are the memento's protected?"

"The process in which the computer copies the client's memories for us to explore is a rather invasive one," Eva began, as she started to search the room. "Even with their permission, a client's subconscious will naturally try and defend itself from it, the shields guarding the mementos being the result."

"Then, what do these memory links look like?" Emily pressed on.

To answer her question, Eva touched the mother's day card on the desk. A red orb emerged from it and popped into her hand which she then presented to Emily. "Memory links take on the form of orbs and are usually hidden within objects of note. However, it is also possible to receive them after viewing important events, receiving dialogue from the client or other people within the client's memories, or from visiting special areas. Now let's get a move on."

Following Eva's orders, Emily approached the bed, spying a gardening hat on top of it. "I wonder if this is… ah!"

As she reached out for it, a translucent sphere suddenly appeared around it, knocking Emily back.

"Good job, Emily," Eva said as she pulled the hapless intern up. She then threw the red orb they had found earlier at the barrier, cracking it slightly. "Now, four more to go."

* * *

><p>Nicholas said he was going downstairs to call Cassius, though the truth of the matter is far more complex. One does not simply <em>call <em>a cagey person such as Cassius, and in the process of contacting his advisor, Nicholas found himself seated at a corner table at a local deli.

"'Ey, Mr. Sc'dato! Y' want sum'in t' eat? On th' house!" A man behind the counter shouted at him.

Nicholas waved dismissively. "It's fine, thank you, Luigi."

"Ya waitin' on Cassy, ain'tcha?"

"That's right."

"Y'didn't skip a step, didja?"

Nicholas massaged his brow with index finger and thumb. "Who knows, he's so suspicious of everyone and everything he might've made up a few more without telling me."

The door to the deli swung open, revealing the Scardato family advisor at the door. Cassius looked towards the corner and spotted Nicholas before giving him a pronounced frown.

"You skipped a step, _Don_."

Luigi snickered, drawing a disapproving glare from Cassius.

"Whatever, sit down Cassius." Nicholas gestured to the empty seat at the opposite side of his table. "If I ended up skipping a step, what're you doing here?"

Cassius took his seat from across Nicholas and let out a sigh. "Got a call from one of my boys saying you were sitting in the deli; probably waiting for me."

"What took you so long then?"

Cassius blinked at Nicholas passively, as if the answer was obvious."… Because you skipped a step."

Nicholas palmed his face under his glasses before continuing. "_Che noia..."_

"What do you need, Nicholas?"

Nicholas gave Cassius a grim look before starting. "Bazzoli came to see me today… said something was going on behind the scenes. I think we need to look out for-"

"Were you actually listening to that _bastardo?!_" Cassius suddenly lashed out. "Did you forget what he did?!"

"Of course I didn't!" Nicholas indignantly shouted back. "I know more than anyone!"

Cassius stood up, formed his hand into the shape of a gun and pointed it at Nicholas. He then lowered his thumb and lifted up his hand slightly, mimicking recoil. "Bang."

"W-what?" Nicholas stuttered, flabbergasted by Cassius' action.

"I shot you. You're dead," Cassius simply stated.

"The hell you talking about?!"

"Don't you get it, Nicholas?" Cassius began as he sat back down. "I'm demonstrating how easily you could have been killed because of how you reacted to Durante Bazzoli's lie. He got you worried. He got you out of the house. He could've had someone watching the house, waiting for you to leave so that he could _kill _you."

Nicholas grimaced, not liking the reality. "But I can't help but feel-"

"I'll look into it," Cassius interrupted. "But for now, you need to get home, where it's safe. I promised your father I would look after you, and there's no way I'm going on to the afterlife saying I've failed."

"Didn't you tell me that _Cosa Nostra _comes first, Cassius?"

Cassius leaned n towards Nicholas before giving him his response. "_Don_, you are _Cosa Nostra_."

* * *

><p>"Eeep!" Emily shrieked as she found herself on top of the Scardato Mansion, looking down upon the front yard. "Dr. Rosalene! How did we end up here?!"<p>

"By random chance, basically," Eva explained to the panic-stricken redhead. "It's safe to fall, though. We're not going to get hurt."

"I don't mean to contradict you, Dr. Rosalene, but I don't feel safe jumping." Emily's eyes had practically taken on the form of comical cartoon swirls while she teetered from side-to-side.

Eva was tempted to push her off as she did with Neil on the lighthouse, but unlike Neil, who was being an enormous ass at the time, Emily was much more pitiable. "Just watch, Emily."

Eva then gracefully took a step off the roof and, rather elegantly, landed on her feet. She then looked up at the top of the mansion and beckoned towards Emily. "See? I'm fine. Come on down Emily."

"R-right…" Emily leaned over the threshold and clumsily tripped over the gutter that lined the roof's edge, sending herself down to the ground face first. Being in ethereal form Emily's landing lacked impact, though Eva still winced when she hit the ground in front of her.

"You okay, Emily?"

Emily managed to lift her face off the ground and gave Dr. Rosalene a cheesy thumbs-up, the fall seeming to do more damage to her mental state than to her currently nonexistent physical one. Eva grabbed one of Emily's arms and pulled the disoriented intern up.

"Now where to find Mrs. Scardato…"

"Isn't that her right there?" Emily pointed towards the far wall at a woman hunched over a rosebush, meticulously tending to the unopened rosebuds. Sure enough, as Eva and Emily approached, the woman was indeed Arianna, albeit her skin containing much more color than when they last saw her. Her hair was also an inch shorter and she was garbed in a yellow sun dress. Atop her head was the gardening hat that Emily had just found to be a memento.

The two of them stood beside Arianna's form and watched as she trimmed the rosebush into shape, her hands gingerly handling the stems and branches lined with thorns.

"Hmm," Eva contemplated. "This event seems rather plain to be notable memory. I doubt there would be a memento here too. We might have to go back and find another-"

"Look!" Emily interjected as she pointed towards the left at the gate. "Isn't that Mr. Scardato's henchman?"

Eva glanced over to where Emily directed her and saw Anthony emerging through the gate, carrying a red heart-shaped box. He walked up to Arianna who stood up from her work to greet him.

"_Buon Giorno_, Anthony. Happy Valentine's day."

Arianna's greeting caused Anthony to blush and laugh nervously. "Ahaha… thanks… Happy Valentine's Day to you too…"

"A gift for your girlfriend?" Arianna asked as she eyed the box in Anthony's hands.

"W-well, actually, um… It's for… uh…" Anthony looked at the ground and abashedly began to rub the back of his head. Then, instead of completing his sentence, he held it out towards Arianna. "P-please, accept it."

Emily let out an incredulous gasp while Eva merely raised an amused eyebrow.

Arianna looked at the box of chocolates and reached out for it, but rather than taking it, she pushed it back towards Anthony.

"Anthony, we've gone over this."

"Just take it, please."

"I can't accept it."

"Why not?" Anthony's voice was somewhat shaky. The agony of rejection was apparent on his face as it contorted into the most pathetic sight one could witness.

Arianna tenderly began to dab away at his tears with the handkerchief from his front pocket. "Anthony, you've been very loyal to our family for years now, and I'm thankful to have you around. But I can't accept your gift because I can't reciprocate the meaning behind it. I still love Nicholas."

"But didn't you say… didn't you say that Nichol-… er, Mr. Scardato I mean, didn't you say he changed? That he was no longer than man you married? Mrs. Scardato, I can make you happy! I can take you away from this place and keep you safe I can-"

Arianna silenced Anthony by placing a finger over his mouth. "That alone will not make me happy, Anthony. And despite what I said about Nicholas, it doesn't change anything. He may have changed, but my feelings haven't. The two of us still share the same memories, the same bonds. So long as he remembers me and I remember him, that won't change."

Defeated, Anthony simply nodded as he retrieved his handkerchief back from Arianna.

A click came from Eva, and the memory was paused.

"Dr. Rosalene…"

"It's like watching a soap opera," Eva remarked. Eva pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a hefty sigh. "Such a pain, why did I have to witness such a thing? Do I tell Neil, or not? Do I respect his mother's right to privacy or his right to know?"

"Does Dr. Watt's really have the right to know?" Emily tentatively asked.

"From a moral perspective, not a legal one," Eva stated. "Whatever, I'll figure it out later. Let's just find the next memento."

* * *

><p><strong>Authors Note:<strong> Be on the lookout for my next oneshot! And as always, leave a review if you can!


	5. Tabula Rasa

**Author's Note: So it's been another two months since I last updated this story, eh? Sorry about that, but the excuses are the usual, college and stuff, etc, etc. I'll just say that I'm really disappointed with how this chapter came out, it almost feels like I'm just writing to get it over with, which is really unfair to you guys who have been supporting me with your positive feedback and expecting more from me. I'll try to make the next chapter better, I promise!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 5: Tabula Rasa<p>

Beep. Beep. Beep. Neil watched the line on the heartbeat monitor spike upwards in a monotonous pattern.

_Her vitals are… there, I guess_, he thought to himself. He turned to this mother on the bed, her head encapsulated by the Life Generator Agency's helmet. _I wonder how Eva and Emily are doing? _

He looked over at the computer, which indicated Eva and Emily had just completed another memory hop. Not particularly affected by the progress being made, he took a seat on his mother's bedside and took hold of her hand.

_Mi Dispiace, Madre. I'm such a selfish son. No matter what you told me, I should've tried harder. I should have been here for you. Things could've been different. _

He then glanced over at the two chairs in which Emily and Eva sat. _Eva promised me that you'd get a happy ending, mom. But would it… be good enough? I've always thought that what I did, was good, that I was doing a good thing. Letting people die happy. But now that it's happening to you, mom, I can't help but feel it's not good enough! Not when you could have been happy for real!_

Neil bit into his bottom lip which had begun to quiver. He ran his fingers through his hair as he tried to stifle the feelings of helplessness that began to creep within him. _I'm so useless! So goddamn useless! _

The hand that was in his hair then found its way to his shoulder. He didn't want to say anything, not in the presence of his father or Eva, but the pain in his shoulder was flaring up once more. It had been, ever since he arrived, and it was worse than ever. He squeezed his mother's hand for whatever little comfort it could offer him.

_I can't believe it… even now, when mom's the one in the bed, I still need her help… I'm so pathetic! _He got off from his mother's bed and opened the window, letting out a feral scream to the heavens.

"Ah geez! I didn't do nothin', I swear!" A startled voice from below him sounded off. Neil looked down and saw that it was Anthony, a lit cigarette clutched in between his index and middle finger, except this one had no filter and looked more like a sloppily rolled up piece of paper.

"What's that?" Neil asked him.

Anthony hid the hand holding the suspicious paper roll behind his back and gave Neil a tense laugh. "Don't you be worrying over this now, boss. I didn't take it from the family; I paid for it with my own money, so it's all good, yeah?"

Neil simply stared Anthony down passively. "Get up here."

Neil met Anthony just right outside the bedroom.

"Hey now, before you get all uppity, I should point out that-"

"I don't care," Neil interrupted. He then rubbed his neck pensively before continuing. "Do you… do you have any more?"

"Oh, is that all?" Anthony asked, relieved. Anthony cautiously looked over his shoulder and reached into his jacket, pulling out another roll.

Neil took it from him and examined it curiously. "So this is marijuana…"

"You haven't used it before, have you?"

"No."

The sound of footsteps coming up the stairs caught their attention and Neil hurriedly pocketed the joint. Nicholas appeared at the top of the stairs and Anthony bowed to him respectfully.

"I'll take my leave," Anthony said as he, respectfully as he could, stepped around Nicholas and descended the stairs.

"Good night, Anthony. How're things going with the operation?" Nicholas asked Neil.

"Slowly, but smoothly," Neil answered while opening the door back to the room. "Did you go out?"

Nicholas nodded and followed Neil into the room. "Just for a bit."

Neil placed himself back at his mother's bedside and took her hand once more. Nicholas did the same at the other side of the bed. Briefly, father and son shared apologetic looks before looking down upon Arianna, both begging for any reaction.

_He's back, Arianna. Our son is back, but we're far from being reunited. How is it that you can be so close to us, yet so far away? Can't you feel our son, can't you feel Giovanni? Arianna, please…. _

* * *

><p>"That's another memory down," Eva stated as the world around her and Emily began to change. Progress has been steady, and it didn't take long for Emily to grasp the process, so the memories have been flying by. Unfortunately, the jumps between memories were short, most of which were no more than a few weeks apart. If Eva had to guess, they had only delved a year into Arianna's past prior to their current jump.<p>

A gasp came out from Emily and as Eva turned to Emily to find out what had distressed her, Emily pointed in front of her. Eva had just realized they were now in Neil's old room and sitting in front of Neil's old computer before her and Emily and wrapped in a blanket was a bald-headed woman, her legs tucked up against her chest.

"Is that Neil's mom?" Emily asked. "Her hair was getting shorter with each passing memory, but she still had quite a bit in the last one."

"This is good," Eva stated. "We need to take larger leaps into her past. We might just be able to make it in time."

The door to Neil's room opened, and Nicholas stepped inside. "Arianna, here you are."

Arianna panicked upon seeing Nicholas and hid herself within the blanket. "Nick! Don't look at me!"

"As if I care how the woman I love looks like," he spoke soothingly. He embraced Arianna who still hid under the blanket. "The doctor told me you ended your treatment prematurely."

"They said I was getting better. I'm done with it." She spoke from underneath the blanket.

"Arianna, just to be safe, I think we should-"

"No!" Furiously, Arianna wrestled out of Nicholas' hold and threw the blanket off of her. "Look at me, Nick! I'm hideous!"

"I never would have taken Mrs. Scardato as such a vain woman," Emily whispered to Eva. Eva simply nodded to acknowledge Emily's statement and continued to watch the scene unfold.

"I've also felt horrible the entire time! Not just from the treatment, but from all those pitiful looks people give me, I can't take it anymore! Nicholas, _please_, if you love me, you'd let the torture end!" Arianna had started to cry and buried her face in her hands as she did so.

Nicholas looked at his inconsolable wife in pain, not knowing what to say. He attempted to hug her again but she recoiled from his touch. Not liking the rejection, he was willing to say anything to appease her.

"Arianna, if you say you're okay and you want to stop the treatment, we'll stop."

Arianna looked up from her hands and began to rub the tears out of her eyes. "R-really?"

Nicholas took hold of his wife's shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "Arianna. I _love _you. I'll do whatever you want."

Arianna opened her mouth to say something but then stopped herself, instead choosing to bury her face into her husband's chest.

A red orb appeared in Eva's hand, indicating they just received a memory link.

"Four more and a memento to go," she said aloud. Nicholas had then departed and Arianna returned to the computer. Eva paused the memory and turned to Emily, who was holding on to three orbs. "Good job, Emily! Where'd you get those?"

Emily grinned and blushed sheepishly. "It was completely by accident, honestly. Everything I touched seemed to become a memory link."

"I suppose that would make sense, this is Neil's room after all. Considering how much she loves him, everything has the capacity to be a memory link. If we're smart about it, we might just be able to find a memento that could send us deeper into her memories in one leap." Eva began to scrutinize the room heavily.

Feeling like she was getting in the way of Eva's examinations, Emily chose to approach Arianna and looked at the computer monitor. The monitor displayed the Sigmund Life Generator Agency's website and Arianna was currently perusing a page titled "staff". Intrigued, although hoping she wasn't abusing the already invasive nature of the procedure, Emily took control of the mouse and was surprised to find the cursor on the screen responding to her inputs.

_They really go above and beyond with the interactivity of these memories, don't they? _She thought to herself. Using the scroll wheel, she went down the page finding pictures of various staff members and a mini bio accompanying them. _They're all here! That would mean Dr. Watts and Dr. Rosalene are… huh? _

The page ended with Eva's bio. Emily scrolled back up to see if she had passed Neil, but failed to find him. However, examining the webpage had produced another memory link orb, giving her and Eva all five.

"If you're looking for Neil, you're not going to find him. He asked the company not to put his picture or bio on the website," Eva informed Emily as she looked over Emily's shoulder. "He didn't want to be tracked down."

"But his mother must've been on to something," Emily insisted. "If she went through this entire page, she would have found you."

Eva cupped her chin with her fingers as she contemplated the meaning. "She probably did find me. Like Neil's father, she must have made the assumption that wherever I went, Neil would be there too."

"She must've been so disheartened when she didn't find him," Emily added.

"Quite likely," Eva agreed. "It doesn't look like this will helps us any further, however. What we need now is a memento, one that would take us back quite a ways."

Eva opened a drawer on the desk the computer was situated on, finding inside a pair of glasses.

"Glasses?" Emily asked.

"This is the pair Neil wore in high school. He replaced them just before we went out of state for college." Eva extended her hand towards the glasses but was immediately pushed back by the barrier that suddenly appeared around them.

"If those glasses are connected to a memory containing Dr. Watts…"

"Then we could make quite a leap into the past," Eva concluded in Emily's stead. Eva tossed her orb at the barrier, cracking it slightly. Emily did the same with the orbs she had collected, each one furthering the damage on the barrier until it finally shattered.

Eva picked up the glasses and began to make the necessary preparations. It looked as though Eva was simply gazing at it intently, but in actuality, what she was really doing was looking _through _it. The meaning of the glasses and its specific tie to a memory were all compressed within, and it takes a great amount of mental stamina to discern what she needs from it.

"Okay," Eva said after a long while. "They're ready."

Rather than feeling like they were being transported, like earlier leaps, the world around them melded away and for a brief moment, Eva and Emily stood in the middle of a black abyss. The glasses in Eva's hands then disintegrated into raw data as it started to flesh out the void, creating the ground beneath them, the fiery-tinted dawn sky above them, and the Scardato Mansion behind them. Once again, they were in the front lawn of the Scardato household, between the building and the gates.

Emily's jaw fell slightly as her head swiveled around, gazing at the scene. It wasn't as if it was particularly pretty, but it was certainly more vivid, with this particular memory containing more detail than any other.

"It's almost like we're in the real world…"

"This is an important memory, more so than the others." Eva pointed towards the gate. "There's Neil, or rather, as he is known at the moment, Giovanni."

The gate was open and standing beside it was Giovanni and his mother, Arianna. A yellow taxi cab was parked right outside on the street, with the driver leaning against his car, a lit cigarette in his mouth. Giovanni's right shoulder was in a cast and his right arm was in a sling to prevent movement. Beside him was a luggage bag.

"What happened to Dr. Watts?" Emily asked Eva as they approached the Scardato family.

Eva simply shook her head. "You'll probably find out in a bit."

The glasses that were the memento were now situated on Giovanni's face.

"Oh, your new glasses came just came in, here." Arianna removed the glasses that were on Giovanni's face and placed one of its earpieces down behind the neck of her collar so that she didn't have to hold it. She then took out a glasses case, opened it, and gingerly placed it on to Giovanni's face. "There, isn't that better?"

Giovanni squinted as his eyes began to adjust to the new acuity. "I guess? Anyways, you haven't told me what's happening, mom."

"You'll be driven to the airport," Arianna stated. "The ticket is already in your bag. You're going to college, the same one that Eva is going to."

"What?" Giovanni asked, bewildered.

"I saw the letter of acceptance thrown into the trash. I didn't even know that you applied. You should go."

"But, isn't it better if I just stay here for school?" Giovanni argued. "The university here is just as good as Eva's, and-"

"Are you really going to let her go, just like that?" Arianna interrupted.

Giovanni adopted a stern expression. "This isn't about me and Eva, is it mom? What's going on?"

Arianna let out a depressive sigh and bent down towards the luggage bag. She unzipped the front pocket and pulled out a file and Giovanni's passport. She handed the passport to Giovanni. Giovanni opened up the passport with one hand and raised an eyebrow at what he saw.

"That's my picture, but not my name. Neil… Watts?"

"I had a lawyer go and help me change your name. I didn't think you were going to like the idea so I ended up having to forge some signatures, but otherwise it's all official, relatively at least. You are now Neil Watts."

Giovanni gaped at his mother incredulously. "Why am I Neil Watts? I still don't get what's going on."

A tear began to descend from the corner of Arianna's eye. "Isn't it obvious? My dear son, you're leaving. For good."

"W-what? Mom, this is-"

Arianna then handed Giovanni the file, cutting him off. "These are bank account details that only you and I will know of. Use the money in it to pay for your tuition and your books."

"But why?" Giovanni implored.

"My son, look at you, you're hurt." She wrapped her arms around his neck and brought his face close to her bosom as she embraced him. "And I don't want you to get hurt again."

"But mom, I'm fine." Giovanni's voice was slightly muffled as he was buried in her chest.

Arianna released him from the hug, though she held on to his face with both hands as she looked him in the eyes. "It's dangerous for you here. As long as you are here, you will always be involved with your father's business, whether you'd want to be or not. You may even be forced to inherit it, again whether you would want to or not. I wanted you to grow up, unsullied by the life of a _Mafioso_, but last week that reality was ruined. But now's your chance for a new life, a blank slate."

Giovanni began to tremble and he nodded at his mother's words dejectedly.

"Okay," he conceded as he held back at sob. "I'll go. But I'll call you every day and-"

"No," she interjected, placing a finger across his lips to silence him. "No contact can be made between us; otherwise the family might track you down."

Neil shook his head furiously. "But, that's crazy! You're asking me to abandon you!"

"And I'm begging you to _live_!" Arianna cried, the tears now flowing freely. She placed a hand over his heart. "Keep me with you here, and you'll be fine. Your father will wake up soon, and I'm sure he'll do everything in his power to stop you from leaving. So you'll have to go, _now_."

The sight of his mother crying only elicited Giovanni to do the same as he nodded. "O-okay."

"I love you, Giovanni."

"I love you too, mom."

Arianna stood on her toes to plant a motherly kiss on Giovanni's lips. She then turned around and walked away from him. As she did so, Giovanni's form as well as the cab driver's, and the world around the mansion began to disintegrate away, with only the mansion existing, floating in the void. Two orbs appeared in Emily's hands while three appeared in Eva's. Emily looked to Eva questioningly.

"It was a very important moment," Eva answered.

"What happened?" Emily asked, as she peered at the darkness that surrounded the mansion.

"The day she said goodbye to her son was also the day she said goodbye to the world," Eva surmised, her expression somber. "I'd imagine Mr. Scardato didn't make it easy for her to leave the house after finding out Giovanni ran away."

"Could this be another reason why she would want to see the world?"

Eva crossed her arms. "A good observation, Emily. Undoubtedly, Mrs. Scardato must have been feeling like a caged bird all this time."

Just then, coming out of the mansion was Anthony. Unlike his appearance in the present, rather than a buzz cut, he had a full head of wavy black hair that reached his shoulders in a tangled mullet. He held a box and he walked out of the household purposefully and hurriedly.

"Anthony?" Arianna queried as she approached him. She apprehensively looked over her shoulder, checking to see if Giovanni had left, though from Emily and Eva's perspective there was nothing outside the gate to look at.

Anthony's face lit up upon seeing her. "Oh hey! How's your morning Mrs. Scardato? What're ya doing up so early?"

"I was… just going for a walk. What's in that box?"

"Oh, uh, haha…" Anthony laughed nervously. "Just some things the boss wants me to get rid of."

With Anthony still holding the box, Arianna opened it and pulled out was within. It was a .44 magnum Colt Anaconda, a revolver with a thick barrel 6 inches in length that made for quite an imposing sight when staring down its barrel.

"Hey now, you shouldn't be holdings things like that," Anthony cautioned her. He reached out for the weapon but Arianna stepped back. She then held it with two hands and aimed it at one of the walls surrounding the mansion.

"I can't believe my son had to use such a dangerous thing," she said as she looked down the sights. "It's not as if I'd like to keep it, but why are you getting rid of it?"

"The boss said that it must be defective or something, the bullets ain't coming out of it straight."

"So he's blaming the gun then," Arianna muttered to herself. "That stupid man."

As Arianna was placing the gun back into the box, the entire scene froze. Emily looked to Eva who approached Arianna and reached out for the revolver in her hand. As expected, a barrier appeared.

"This is it," Eva stated as she examined the revolver in Arianna's hand. "This is the memento."

After they had broken the barrier, Eva took hold of the weapon though immediately let out a yelp and dropped it.

"Dr. Rosalene! What's wrong?" Emily asked.

"Pain," Eva began as she panted. "I felt… pain."

"But isn't pain simulation turned off?"

"Not that kind of pain," Eva said. A tear had unknowingly came to Eva's eye and she brushed it away. "It felt as if something I cared for was hurt. There's no need to prepare this memento, the memory that is tied with it is very clearly defined."

Eva bent down to pick up the revolver; though this time she handled it much more gingerly.

"Here we go."

As usual, Emily's vision went black, but before anything else took form she immediately heard several piercing bangs that made her instinctively duck and close her eyes. When she had opened them, she found herself staring at Arianna's and Giovanni's backs. The two of them were crouched behind a thick oaken dining table in the dining hall that had been flipped over. Giovanni was holding on to the revolver and was using the table to prop his arms as he pointed the weapon at the closed dining hall doors. Loud bangs continued to sound off from outside.

Emily could only cower but was reassured by a comforting hand from Eva.

"It's okay, Emily. You can't be hurt here."

"Giovanni, give me the gun, you shouldn't be using that," Arianna pleaded as she reached for the colt.

"I got it, mom, its fine," he said as he moved away slightly, the visible shaking of his arms contradicting his statement. "I'll protect you."

As if to challenge his proclamation, the double doors to the dining hall slammed open, revealing a behemoth of a man in a tailored suit. He was bald-headed; his hands were donned in leather gloves and a visible scar ran diagonally from under his left eye, across his mouth and onto the right side of his chin.

Giovanni fired a shot but the combination of surprise, shaky hands, and complete inexperience found the bullet just stray of its mark. The behemoth, unfazed by the threat to his life, expertly drew a bead on Giovanni with his .22 caliber pistol and fired, scoring a hit on Giovanni's right shoulder.

A gasp escaped from Emily at the sight but surprisingly, Giovanni was rather silent, his face revealing the shock he has received from such a hit. He fell backwards and was shielded by the table, forcing the giant gunman to flank towards the left to get a better shot.

"Don't you even dare!" Arianna lunged out from the cover of the table and held on to the man's arm that held the pistol before biting deeply his wrist, forcing him to drop the pistol.

"_Puttana!" _the gunman cried out as he tried to shake her off. He balled his free hand into a fist and began to pound it against Arianna's face unmercifully, though she never relinquished her hold. Out of desperation, he pushed her down and with her came chunks of his flesh from his wrist. "_Merda! Ti ammazzo!" _

The gunman then bent down to retrieve his weapon when another bang sounded off, followed by him falling to a knee. Arianna got up to find that Giovanni, who was still lying down, was pointing the smoking end of the revolver at the gunman and had successfully shot him in the thigh.

"Do it, _ragazzo_, finish me," the gunman challenged. Giovanni snarled at the man though seemed hesitant to pull the trigger. Sensing an opportunity, the gunman made a move for his pistol but was once again beset by Arianna who now brandished a steak knife.

The gunman tried desperately to defend himself but was overwhelmed once she had successfully mounted him and started to bring the knife down in swift, double-fisted strokes. The arms he raised to defend himself now fell flat along the floor and she left the knife in his chest, her body now soaked in his blood, her own chest heaving as she gasped for air.

Emily had her eyes covered by her hands during the entire scene and she had to be prompted by Eva, who removed the body from observation mode for Emily's sake.

"Mom," Giovanni weakly called out as he stood up. "You didn't have to do that, it could have been dangerous. I could have handled him."

"_Mio bambino_." Arianna got up from the body, a body Emily could no longer see, and embraced her son. "As if I'd let you do such a sinful thing."

The sound of gunfire seemed to have dissipated and both mother and son looked around, hoping the conflict had ended. A young woman with long curly black hair and dark skin came running into the dining hall which caused the two of them to jump.

"Is that… you Dr. Rosalene?" Emily asked.

"Yeah," Eva answered. "I was in their bathroom when I heard the gunshots. Oh god, did my hair look bad back then."

"Is everyone here alright?" The younger Eva asked. "Oh my god, Mrs. Scardato, you're covered in blood! And Giovanni, is that a bullet wound? Holy crap! That's a dead body! That's not one of your guys, is it?"

"Calm down, Eva its no- ahhhhh!" Giovanni was unable to complete his answer as he clutched on to his right shoulder and fell to the floor. "Ah shit! It hurts! Why did it just start hurting now?!"

"_Oh mio dio_, Giovanni!" Arianna sat behind her son and cradled him while he continued to let out agonized moans.

"The adrenaline must've worn off, so now he's feeling the pain," young Eva explained to Giovanni's mother. "It doesn't look like there's an exit wound, so the bullet must still be in there."

"Arianna! Giovanni!" A voice from outside the dining hall called out.

"That must be Nicholas! Eva, could you get him?"

Young Eva nodded and ran out the dining hall. She was soon accompanied by Nicholas, Anthony, Cassius, and two other family members.

"_Amore mio_, Giovanni, you're both okay!" Nicholas kneeled down to embrace both his wife and his son, though he was pushed away by Arianna.

"There's no time for that now!" she yelled. "Nicholas, there's a bullet in our son, we have to help him! We have to call an ambulance!"

"The hospital has to report any and all gunshot wounds," Cassius stated. "We'll have to deal with cops."

"_Figlio di puttana!_" Arianna cursed. "That's not what matters right now!"

"Ain't the cops coming anyways?" Anthony thoughtfully added. "There was an awful lot of shooting going on here. We lost a lot of our boys too. Someone must have called them. Heck, Gio's lady friend over there could have called them."

The other's looked to young Eva expectantly though she shook her head. "I couldn't get any reception in the bathroom."

"This attack was brazen, but the Bazzoli family isn't stupid," Cassius stated. "I'm sure they created a situation in which the cops won't come. Anyone who could have called is probably 'taken care of'. And I'm sure the cops are just begging for a reason to come into this mansion anyways."

"Nicholas, _please_." Arianna looked at her husband beseechingly.

Nicholas sucked on his teeth as he stared down at his son, who was doing his very best to hide any discomfort he felt.

"No cops," Nicholas finally said. "Let's get Giovanni on the table; we're taking the bullet out here."

A stream of both American and Italian profanity began to pour out of Arianna's mouth as Nicholas and Anthony lifted Giovanni on to the table. Arianna had to be held back by two of the other family members while Nicholas and Anthony held on to Giovanni's legs and arms. Cassius had taken out a blade from a Swiss-pocket knife which he then heated over a lighter.

"This is gonna hurt, kid," Cassius warned as he held the red hot blade over Giovanni.

Giovanni shot him a defiant look. "Just do it, you geezer."

Cassius stuck the blade into the bullet wound and began to fish for the bullet. The searing blade digging into Giovanni's shoulder has forced a scream to erupt from him and his agonized cries only brought forth tears from Arianna's eyes.

"Monsters! Monsters, all of you!" The two men holding Arianna finally released her and she held on to young Eva for solace.

Once again, the scene was becoming too much for Emily, so Eva paused it.

"That's so cruel," Emily said as she tried to regain control over her shuddering body. "Why would Dr. Watts' father not bring him to medical professionals to have him treated?"

Eva shrugged. "Perhaps it was the expectation that this was the kind of life that Giovanni would be leading in the future, and his father was giving him a taste of it. Of course, as we saw earlier, Mrs. Scardato changed that."

"What was the reason for all of this violence?" Emily pressed on. "It looks like they were attacked by another mob group."

Eva curled her lips. "A few days earlier, Neil's grandfather, Mr. Scardato's father, had passed away. Mr. Scardato had just inherited the 'family business'. The Scardato family was going through a somewhat tumultuous time. The Bazzoli family and the Scardato family had always been equals in an awkward cease-fire. It's possible the Bazzoli family may have been using the situation to turn the tide in their favor."

"So they were attacked by a rival family while they were too busy with organizational structure," Emily concluded. Any further considerations were interrupted when the world around Emily and Eva started to quake and flash red.

"W-what's g-going o-o-o-oooon?" Emily's speech shuddered along with their surroundings.

"The patient's condition is getting unstable! Emily you have to get out of here!"

"What about you, Dr. Rosalene?"

"Just go!"

"… I don't know how!"

* * *

><p>"Giovanni, you're a doctor, do something!" Nicholas shouted as he watched the machines connected to Arianna beep and flash frenetically.<p>

"I'm not that kind of doctor. Anyways, the best thing to do now is to let the life-support machines do their job. They should self-adjust to the needed settings." Neil frantically typed away at the Sigmund computer.

"What're you doing right now, then?"

"I'm saving their progress and ejecting Eva and Emily out of the memory simulations. It'd be dangerous for them to stay inside if the worst comes. Emily probably doesn't know how to leave, and Eva is only concerned about retaining their work."

After a few more keystrokes, Neil turned to the chairs Eva and Emily were seated at. They began to stir and Eva, quite huffily, took off her helmet and glared at Neil.

"Don't look at me like that," Neil preemptively answered her. "I saved your precious progress, so don't worry."

Emily, now understanding where she was, took off her helmet as well and took notice of the beeping sounds coming from Arianna's life-support machines. "Will Mrs. Scardato be okay?"

The four of them watched Arianna's vitals with bated breath, and soon afterwards, the beeping became less agitated, though her vitals were slightly less alive than before.

"Her condition's stabilizing," Eva said as she examined the heartbeat monitor. "But any signs of life are definitely weaker than before. We don't have a lot of time left."

Neil bit his bottom lip and approached his mother's bedside. "How far did you and Emily go?"

"The most recent one we were viewing was the attack on the household," Eva answered.

Nicholas flinched and gazed warily at Emily, who laughed nervously at him.

"Don't worry about her, old man," Neil informed his father. "If she wants a future in this business, she won't say a word to anyone."

A loud yawn escaped Emily who abashedly placed her hands over her mouth. "I'm sorry, I didn't even realize how tired I was!"

"Even though your body was at rest, your mind was conscious for a fair bit. Neil, Emily and I need a break. We'll get started again within the hour."

Neil nodded. "Okay. I'll go and make you guys some coffee, even if it is old and disgusting."

"That's generous of him," Emily said as Neil walked out of the room.

"Yeah…" Eva agreed, suspicious. "Mr. Scardato, would it be okay if Emily took a nap in your guestroom?"

"Okay." Nicholas gestured for Emily to follow him. Emily got up and followed him down the hall. With both Nicholas and Emily preoccupied, Eva silently followed Neil down the stairs to the first floor and followed him to the dining room, and from there he went into the kitchen. Eva refrained from entering the kitchen just as Neil looked over his shoulder, narrowly managing to avoid getting caught.

After what Eva determined to be an appropriate amount of time, she peeked into the kitchen and saw Neil leaning over the stovetop.

"Dammit, why won't it light?" he cursed as he pressed the marijuana cigarette onto the heated stovetop. Though it smoked, Neil's method failed to light it permanently.

Eva noticed the roll in his fingers and barged into the kitchen infuriatedly. "Neil! What are you doing?!"

Neil's whirled around, attempting to hold the offending substance behind him, though Eva had already closed the distance and snatched it from his hands.

"Hey! Give that back!"

"Neil! Is this what I think it is?" she asked him as she held it away from him.

"Give. It." Neil glowered at her and held out his hand demandingly.

A chill ran down Eva's back. _Why does he sound so desperate?_ "Neil. You're nuts. I'm throwing this crap away."

Before she could turn away, Neil charged her, desperately reaching for the cigarette Eva held above her head as she leaned back and pushed him with her free hand in an effort to keep it out of his reach.

"Dammit Eva!" Impatiently, Neil took hold of Eva's wrists, pushed her against the wall, and pinned her against it. Eva could only gaze fearfully at his savage expression, his chest heaving as he seethed through his teeth. He gripped her wrists so tightly that she lost the ability to move her fingers. "Give it back."

"N-neil, you're sc-scaring me!"

Eva's frightened voice brought about Neil's senses and he let her go before stepping away from her, squeezing his head between his hands. He had walked back to the stovetop and he looked down at the red-hot metal coil. He held his hand over it, his palm sweating immediately from the heat it produced.

_I could just touch it, _he thought. He lowered his hand even closer to it until it hovered just an inch away. _Just touch it, and the pain will be somewhere else. _

"Neil!" Eva, having just recovered from Neil's attack, grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the stove. "What the hell's with you?!"

Neil now looked at Eva pleadingly, his left hand clutched onto his right shoulder. "Why'd you stop me?"

"Neil, are you in pain?"

"Of course I'm in pain!" he suddenly shouted at her. Spittle hat flown form his mouth at his outburst and Eva narrowly avoided the spray. "I've been in pain the entire fucking time I've been here!"

"Neil, even so, these kinds of drugs are not the ans-"

"What would you know?!" he interrupted. "Do you have _any _idea what I'm feeling right now?! My mother is just upstairs, _dying_! Bazzoli is out of prison, and I want to tear my goddamn shoulder off!" Neil then fell to the floor, onto his bottom, covering his face with his hand. "Eva, it hurts… it hurts so goddamn much."

Neil sat on the floor, his back leaning against the lower cabinets beneath the counter, for a minute before the smell of smoke caught his interest. Eva was leaning over the stovetop, igniting one end of the marijuana cigarette on the stovetop with one hand while holding back her hair with the other. She then leaned in and inhaled from the other end of the cigarette before standing straight up, successfully lighting the roll. She coughed out the smoke; her body not accustomed to the substance and extended the cigarette down to Neil.

"Oh. Thanks." Neil took the cigarette from Eva and watched as she turned her back at him while she walked out of the kitchen.

"I thought you were stronger than this," she said right before she left the kitchen.

Neil then examined the marijuana cigarette pinched between his index and middle fingers, smoke wafting off of the lit end. _Such an unfair expectation, Eva. _


	6. Optimum, Pessimus

**Note from the Author: I'd like to apologize to my readers for the 3 month waiting period for this chapter. I've taken some winter classes and I just started my spring semester so I never had much time to write. Okay that's a lie, I've had plenty of time, but I usually spent that time playing video games.**

**This chapter** **is shorter than the rest, but there's no point in trying to extend the length of a chapter needlessly. I know I mention pacing issues constantly, but when you spend three months writing as little as 4000 words, approximately, you do lose track of the pace the story is going at, so I would also like to apologize for the poor quality of this chapter.**

**Just one chapter left, and I promise to make the last one a good one!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 6: Optimum, Pessimus<p>

Eva frowned as she sat down in her chair in the master bedroom, gazing at nothing in particular on the floor. She leaned forward, clasped her hands together, and twirled her thumbs around each other.

_This whole thing is one giant mess_, she thought. _Mrs. Scardato doesn't have much time, but Emily and I hardly scratched the surface of her memories. Then there's Neil downstairs who's… _

At the thought of Neil, Eva gently massaged her wrists, thinking of the tight and painful grip he had when he had pinned her against the wall. _He was so desperate. Maybe I've underestimated the amount of pain he was in. I shouldn't have judged him so-_

"I… I didn't hurt you too much, did I?"

Eva looked up and saw Neil standing by the door, holding a tray on top of which were four mugs of coffee. She frowned at him and turned away.

"Eva, look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to act that way."

"Shouldn't you be downstairs, you know, 'relieving your pain'?"

Neil sighed and approached Eva with the tray, offering her a mug. "I threw it out. I didn't use it."

Eva raised a suspicious eyebrow at him. "Really?"

"Yeah," Neil answered, nodding. "It still hurts, even now, but I'm dealing with it."

Eva curled her lips, not sure what to make of Neil's statement, and took a mug off the tray. She took a sip and spat what little she put in her mouth out as she grimaced at its contents in disgust. "What's in this? It tastes sour and burning."

"Oops, that's mine." Neil swiped the mug from her, tossed back his head, and downed the beverage expertly.

It took Eva a moment to realize what Neil drank. "Wait so you spiked your coffee with alcohol? So that's you 'dealing with it'?"

"Hey, don't be so judgmental!" Neil contended. "I'm still in pain, okay?"

Eva clicked her tongue disapprovingly and took another mug from the tray. "Is this one safe?"

Neil nodded and Eva took a dainty sip from the mug before taking in a more copious gulp. Her lips puckered at the bitterness, but the sensation along with the caffeine helped kept her awake.

"So, how are things going?" Neil asked her, taking Emily's seat. "Do you think you could make it?"

Eva squeezed her cup and bit the inside of her bottom lip. "It's… I don't…"

"That's a no, isn't it?"

Eva lowered her head, staring at her reflection in the black liquid in her mug. "I'm sorry."

Neil had no response to her apology and simply gazed at his mother.

"Neil," Eva spoke up. "Emily and I can't make it to her childhood on time. But, I think there's still something we could do."

Neil raised an eyebrow at her. "What's that?"

"I could modify one of her later memories. She may not be able to see the world, but she'll have the most important part of her wish. You."

"Hm…" Neil pondered skeptically. "Would that even work? It's not like you could just insert me in one of her memories randomly and just finalize it. It won't be consistent with her previous memories, and it won't create the new memories needed."

"That's _not _what I'm planning on doing," Eva stressed. "I understand how the mind and the machine work, Neil."

"Then, what _are_ you doing?"

Eva exhaled out her nose and looked away from him. "Let's just say I'm going to make it so that you never had a reason to leave. I don't think you'll like the details."

Neil mimed her sigh and looked at Eva pensively. "… I trust you, Eva."

"Thanks." Eva leaned her head back and finished the rest of her coffee before putting the mug back on the tray Neil held. She then stood up and headed for the door out the room. "I'm gonna wake Emily up. It's time we get back to work."

"Alright."

Eva left the room and came back a minute later with the sleepy, bed-headed redhead. Emily spotted the cups of coffee on the tray Neil held and made an eager beeline for him. Like Eva, Emily pulled a face on her first sip, though she persevered and chugged down the rest.

"You downed that like a champ," Neil praised her.

Emily nodded appreciatively at the compliment. "I just want to do the best I can."

"Emily." Eva handed a helmet to Emily. "We're going to be doing something unconventional."

Emily looked to Neil for a clue but he could only give her a shrug. She then turned to Eva. "What do you mean, Dr. Rosalene?"

"You'll see. Neil?"

"I'm on it." Neil got off from the chair, put down the tray on a set of drawers, and stood in front of the computer. "Where will the two of you start?"

"The last memory we reached," Eva answered. "I'll make my revision from there."

Neil pressed the necessary keys on the computer and nodded his head at Eva. "Good to go."

Eva placed the helmet on her head and sat down, with Emily following suit. The helmets on Arianna, Eva, and Emily's heads lit up, signifying the start of the procedure. Neil, once again left with nothing to do, sat down on the floor with his back against the wall.

_What are you planning, Eva? _

* * *

><p>"What are you planning, Dr. Rosalene?" Emily asked Eva when they found themselves within Arianna's memories once again. They were back in the dining hall, the gunshots resounding as Giovanni and his mother hid behind the overturned table.<p>

"I'm going to modify this memory," Eva told her. "At the same time, I'll be inserting the desire to see the world at this point in time as well."

Emily looked around at the memory, trying to ascertain any indication as to why this was ideal. "I don't think we've reached far enough into her memories to make the desire as strong as it could be."

Like before, the doors slammed open, revealing the large gunman. Before the sound of Giovanni firing the weapon could be heard, there was a click, and the memory was paused.

"I suppose it isn't," Eva acknowledged as she approached the still representation of Giovanni. "But this is the best solution I could up with."

"What are you going to modify, exactly?" Emily asked.

"Do you know why Arianna made such an effort to take down the gunman, and to send Giovanni away?" Eva asked instead of answering.

"It was to keep her son safe, right?"

"Partly," Eva said. "The other reason was to preserve her son's innocence. Play memory, reduced speed."

At Eva's command, the memory continued, with Giovanni pulling the trigger on the weapon and the bullet firing out. It traveled at an excruciatingly slow speed, and Emily and Eva watched as it slowly made its way to the gunman. At the prompt of another click, the memory was paused once again, the bullet now frozen halfway to its target.

Eva stood behind the fired bullet and looked down its length. "Not a bad shot. If he was just a little bit practiced, or a little less nervous, he might've made it."

Eva touched the bullet gingerly, altering is trajectory slightly.

"Dr. Rosalene, do you intend for the bullet to hit?" Emily asked incredulously.

"What I _intend _to do is to rob Arianna's son of his innocence. I know it seems drastic but realistically speaking, I can see no way we could reach her childhood before her time runs out."

"But if what you said about preserving her son's innocence is true, wouldn't taking it away make her unhappy?" Emily pressed on.

"It would certainly make her unhappy now, and in a few memories afterwards, that's true," Eva acknowledged. "But what matters is whether or not she's happy in the end."

"But, by turning her son into a killer…" Emily stated agitatedly. "…Would she really be happy?"

"I'm not so bold that I can guarantee it'll work out," Eva said. "It'll take up some time, time that we don't have much of, but there's no way I'm accidentally giving Neil's mother some bad memories. Normally, any modifications we make to a memory, mostly due to purpose of acquiring mementos, are reset, reverting the memory back to its original state. This is because we are not actually interacting with the memories in real time, but rather-"

"A facsimile replicated by the machine," Emily dutifully responded.

"That's right." Eva smiled at her. "It's what Neil would call, a 'canvas'. Whatever modifications we do to a memory, the machine creates reactions and events consistent with how the client would react or what the client would believe will happen. We can use this function to examine how Mrs. Scardato's mind will create new memories based on the modifications on this memory simply by preventing the reset."

"So we can make sure we're not doing anything that might harm Mrs. Scardato?" Emily asked.

Eva nodded. "That's right. Now to continue with the memory. You might want to cover your eyes, Emily."

Emily complied and placed her hands over her eyes. All she heard was a sickening crack, followed by a soft thud. When she had removed her hands, Eva had already removed the body from viewing mode.

Despite not having done anything rigorous, Giovanni panted heavily as he approached the body, a body Emily couldn't see, and looked down at his work.

"I… I did it." Giovanni then looked back at his mother and gave her a small grin. "Haha. I actually did it."

Arianna didn't share the same joy as her son, looking at him as if he was someone she didn't know. "… What did you do?"

Giovanni tilted his head in confusion. "What do you mean? I did what I had to. He was going to-"

Before Giovanni could finish, the gunfire ceased and young Eva came running into the room, tripping over the corpse.

"Holy crap, that wasn't one of your guys, was it?" young Eva asked bewilderedly as she looked back at what she tripped over. The distinctive click that signified a pause sounded off, and the memory froze.

"Rewind, five seconds." As prompted by Eva, the memory rewound to the point where young Eva was just stumbling over the body. The current Eva walked up to her younger incarnation, her face flushed red.

"Dr. Rosalene, are you alright?"

"Emily, you will not tell what you're about to hear to anyone, ever, you got it?"

The sternness of Eva's command made Emily nod frantically.

Eva's face began to twitch as she leaned in towards the ear of her younger self. "Say, 'Oh my god, Giovanni, I'm so glad you're safe. I was so scared.'"

"What?!" Emily blurted out.

Eva's cheeks turned even redder as she palmed her face. "I can't believe I just said that. Play memory."

"Oh my god, Giovanni! I'm so glad you're safe! I was so scared!" Younger Eva bounded over to Giovanni and embraced him tenderly as she parroted the current Eva's words.

"Okay, let's leave it at that," Eva told Emily. "I just might die from embarrassment."

"What was _that _for?"

"I was just setting a precedent. Now let's see what Mrs. Scardato's mind comes up with." Eva extended a hand to the far wall, making a pair of doors appear. Eva approached the doors and threw them open, revealing a blinding white light which Emily had to shield her eyes from. "We can only hope the future she comes up with is just as bright. Come, Emily."

Emily walked up to the doors just as Eva stepped into the light. She paused, leaned forward, and peered into it hesitantly before Eva's hand emerged from the light, grabbed Emily by the collar, and pulled her in. Emily was momentarily blinded but as she regained vision, she found herself standing by the doorway that led to the front yard of the mansion. Both she and Eva flanked Arianna who stood in the middle of the doorway, looking out of the mansion with an eager smile.

A black Bentley with heavily tinted windows pulled up at the gate, the gate opened, and the Bentley parked itself into the courtyard. The doors from the backseat were flung open and two tan children, a boy and a girl, emerged from the vehicle. The boy was bespectacled and had short dusty brown hair. The girl had longer black hair, almost the childish embodiment of Eva, and the both of them ran and made a beeline for Arianna who was now on a knee, her arms outstretched.

"_Nonnina_!" The children resounded in unison as they jumped into her arms.

"My beautiful angels! Come and give grandma a kiss!" She attempted to place a big wet kiss on each of them, but was met by resistance from the boy.

"Ew, _nonnina_! I don't like kisses!" the boy cried out as he leaned away from Arianna's puckered lips.

"Robert! Let _nonna _kiss you!" the man in a suit stepping out of the driver's seat of the car shouted. Emily recognized the man as Dr. Watts, or rather, Giovanni, how she should identify him she was still unsure of. Out of the front passenger's seat was dark-skinned woman whose long hair was tied in a bun and garbed in a red dress.

"Dr. Rosalene, that's you! You look so pretty in a dress," Emily complimented.

"Yeah, I don't look too bad."

"Haha, dad yelled at you," the girl teased Robert as he stopped moving to allow Arianna to plant a big kiss on his cheek.

"Don't tease your brother, Alyssa," the imagined Eva said as she and Giovanni approached the doorway with her hand around Giovanni's arm. "_Buona sera, Madre_."

"_Buona sera, _Eva." Arianna placed a kiss on each of Eva's cheeks before doing the same to Giovanni. "And _buona sera _to you too, my son."

"Hey mom, where's dad?"

As if on cue, a jovial laugh sounded off from upstairs. "There's my _nipoti_! C'mere and greet your _nonno_!"

At the top of the stairs was a brown-haired man with a plaid shirt tucked into a pair of khaki slacks. He had a prominent belly-bulge that threatened to pop the lower buttons on his shirt. His belly jiggled in a comedic manner as he bounded down the stairs to scoop up the two children that ran up to him and he hoisted them onto his shoulders.

"Haha! You _piccoli_ are getting big. I can't do this for much longer, might have to put you brats down."

"Not yet!"

"Longer, _nonnino!_" the children pleaded.

"Ah, you two are a pair of _bambini viziato_, eh? Well that's fine. To the dinner table we go!" Still carrying the children on his shoulders, he made his way to the dining hall, manipulating the door knob with his knee in order to get the door open.

"Pops just keeps getting bigger and bigger, doesn't he?" Giovanni snidely remarked. "You're feeding him to death, mom."

Arianna playfully struck Giovanni. "Oh, at least he'll die happy! Eva, that's a lovely dress you're wearing."

"Thank you, Arianna. I got it when-"

"I can only imagine the amount of meals you must have skipped to fit in it! Look at you, so skinny, come, come you two, I have dinner prepared already. Hurry before Nicholas eats it all!" Arianna interrupted Eva and began ushering Giovanni and Eva into the house and towards the dining hall.

Emily and Eva stayed where they were, bewildered by what they just watched.

"So… Mr. Scardato became quite large," Emily pointed out. "And it looks like, you and Dr. Watts got married, and had children? They look to at least be five years old; the two of you must have had them early."

Eva palmed her face in an attempt to conceal her embarrassment. "All I did was create a small precedent and her mind just went wild with it. She sure is optimistic."

"It appears Mrs. Scardato is happy, does that mean we should finalize these changes?"

"I think we should follow them into the dining hall," Eva suggested. "I have a bad feeling…"

The activity in the dining hall was a merry affair, with Nicholas purposely getting various pieces of food stuck in his teeth before showing off a wide, toothy, smile that had the children laughing.

"Nicholas, stop it!" Arianna playfully shoved her husband. "You're teaching our grandchildren bad manners."

"Aw, c'mon! It's funny!"

"Robert, eat your vegetables," Eva told her son who was busy separating the greens from the rest of his food on his plate.

"But mooom," Robert whined. "Dad's not eating his."

Eva glanced at Giovanni's plate before looking up and glaring at him disapprovingly. "Giovanni! Set an example for your kids!"

"But I don't like broccoli…"

"C_ucciolo mio_, here." Arianna stabbed a piece of broccoli on Giovanni's plate with a fork and held it in front of his face. The children began to laugh at the sight of their father being fed like a child. Giovanni stared down the stem of broccoli almost hatefully, but the imposing will of an Italian mother was one that will not be defied and he reluctantly opened his mouth and placed the offending vegetable within. "There we go, your mother's cooking is not too bad, is it?"

"It's wonderful, mom," Giovanni said, his face contorted in near agony.

"Now it's Robert's turn!" Alyssa chimed up.

"What about you?"

"I ate _my _vegetables." Alyssa stuck out her tongue at her brother.

Robert made a sudden movement to leave the table but was ultimately stymied when Giovanni picked him up, placed him on his lap, and presented the youth to Eva who was ready with a fork in hand, a piece of asparagus impaled upon it. As the vegetable drew nearer to Robert's face, a knock resounded from the dining hall doors.

The diners exchanged wary glances.

"Well, come in then," Nicholas said to the doors. One of the doors opened slowly and a blank-faced figure stepped in, lowering his head respectfully.

"Pardon the intrusion, _Don_, but there's currently an incident down at the pier. The shop owners refused to pay their protection fees and are starting to riot!"

Giovanni let out a sigh and stood up. "I'll be there. Daddy's gonna leave for a little bit, okay?"

Giovanni kissed every one of his family members before walking towards the blank faced man, and followed him out of the mansion. The merry mood that once filled the dining hall had now soured.

"Does daddy protect people, mommy?" Alyssa asked Eva. An awkward silence took hold of the adults in the room as each one of them awkwardly looked to each other to answer the young child's question.

Eva paused the memory, crossed her arms, and curled her lips.

"Dr. Rosalene, that man called him _'Don'_. Does that mean…?"

"Yeah," Eva glumly answered. "He inherited the family business."

"I don't mean to question you, Dr. Rosalene, but I don't think this was a good plan," Emily apprehensively stated.

Eva nodded. "You're probably right. In any case, let's look a bit further into the future."

Eva created another door and this time Emily willfully stepped through it. The both of them ended up in the foyer of the mansion, though two large luggage bags stood by the entrance. Alyssa and Robert, now a couple years older, ran into the foyer, dragging along two smaller luggage bags. Arianna had begun descending down the stairs though stopped halfway and turned back her head back.

"Nicholas! Do you have the passports?"

"_Si, amore mio_; I have 'em here." Nicholas emerged, with his belly even bigger than before, holding a pair of passports. "I couldn't find the tickets though!"

"Don't worry, old man, I got them." Giovanni, along with married Eva appeared in the doorway of the foyer. "So kids, you ready to go to Italy?"

"Yeah!" Alyssa exclaimed.

"Where's Italy?" Robert asked.

"It's in Europe, sweetheart," Eva answered as she tussled his hair. Robert simply blinked up at her unknowingly. Eva chuckled. "I suppose it's a good thing you're taking geography this year."

"So, what car are we taking?" Nicholas asked as he and Arianna reached the bottom of the stairs.

"I'm having someone drive us, he'll pull in to help us load up the luggage. I'm gonna go and move the Bentley out of the way right now." Giovanni stepped out into the courtyard and towards the Bentley.

"I see, they're going to Italy, so her wish _does _come true," Emily said, elated.

"Looks like it…"A chill ran along the real Eva's spine and she diverted her attention to watching Giovanni. _The atmosphere… it's… wrong. _

Giovanni got into the car and inserted the keys into the ignition. Eva's heart began to pound against her chest. Giovanni twisted the keys in the ignition, but no response came from the car. Anyone familiar with the business knew what it meant. Eva's eyes widened and Giovanni made a sudden motion for the door, but it was already too late.

"**KABOOM!**" The Bentley erupted into a column of fire. Scraps of metal surged outwards in a deadly rain of steel. The shockwave had pushed down the rest of the family, with the imagined Eva instinctively protecting the imagined children with her body over theirs. The whimpering children made attempts to get up though Eva held them down.

"Don't look kids. Just stay here with mommy." The married Eva began to convulse with each sob as she pressed her children's faces close to her chest, not needing to look at the carnage to realize what had happened.

Arianna had gotten up and attempted to make her way out the door but was stopped when Nicholas grabbed her by the wrist. She turned her head to look at him, witnessing the tears that had welled up at the bottom of his eyes.

He shook his head. "Don't go. You shouldn't see such a thing."

Arianna wrestled her wrist out of his grasp. "I need to see it, Nicholas."

She took uneasy steps towards the foyer doorway, her body trembling. She pushed open one of the doors, a piece of shrapnel imbedded into it. The courtyard was decorated with scraps of pieces of black and gray metal, an overturned flaming wreck of a car the centerpiece of it all. She eyed the driver's seat of the car, barely making out the charred shape of an arm draped out of the window.

"G-Giovanni?" she vainly called out, her throat seeming to dry up. "G-Giovanni, p-please. Answer your mother. Please…"

Her quivering knees soon gave out, which brought her into full view of the scorched corpse that sat upside down in the seat.

"NOOOO!" she wailed, as if shouting at a being in the sky above her, the tears cascading down from her eyes.

Click.

Emily had attempted to seek refuge from the sorrowful scene by hiding behind her hands, but at the familiar sound of the click signifying a pause to the memory, she lowered them, expecting to see a calm and composed Eva pondering the significance of what just happened. Instead she saw the opposite. Eva, the real Eva, was sitting on the floor, her fingers entangled in the roots of her hair as she pulled upon them, an expression of hysterics on her face.

"Dr. Rosalene?" Emily apprehensively called out.

"I called her optimistic," Eva simply stated, her eyes burning a hole into the ground in front of her. "I had no idea.…"

Emily was at a loss for words. She had no idea what to say, and the one person she looked to for guidance appeared to be in a fit.

"Emily," Eva then spoke.

"Y-yes?"

Eva stood up, seeming to have regained her composure, though she still stared at the scene with horror. "We're out of time. I'm out of ideas."

Emily shook her head. "No! We can't be! There must be something we can do for Mrs. Scardato! We have to try!"

"Establishing communications with main computer," Eva said, ignoring Emily.

A few seconds of silence followed before an echoed voice appeared from nowhere, and everywhere. "Eva?"

"Dr. Watts?" Emily queried.

"Neil," Eva began, taking in a deep breath. "I'm so sorry, Neil. I failed."


End file.
